Art (Fine arts, Performing arts)

Gombrich describes a number of “revolutions” in art of the 19th century. One of these revolutions is the emergence of Realism and Impressionism, led by the painter Edouard Manet (p. 514-517). Consider the following quote from the French intellectual Emile Zola who is writing about Edouard Manet’s 1865 painting Olympia, “When our artists give us Venuses, they correct nature, they lie. Édouard Manet asked himself why lie, why not tell the truth; he introduced us to Olympia, this woman of our time, whom you meet on the sidewalks.” According to Zola and Gombrich, what did the Realists and Impressionists do that was so revolutionary? Focus on Renoir’s Le Moulin de la Galette (1876).