Nineteenth Century French Art

During the nineteeth century, France experienced an unprecedented growth in the visual arts, and Paris was its centre. Many factors contributed to the success of 19th century French art, among them political will, technical innovation, and a reaction against the power of institutions, as well as the many energizing initiatives undertaken by private individuals.

French art became a universally accepted benchmark, spreading its many ground-breaking developments - the radicalism of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, the daring of Art Nouveau, and the innovations of Haussman's new urban landscape - far beyond its borders, and in return receiving, in the shape of the countless artists who came to its shores, numerous influences from abroad.

During this extraordinarily rich and productive period, French fine art also benefited from the synthesis of the past with the innovations of the present, resulting in an artistic output whose legacy is, arguably, still being felt today.

Nineteenth Century French Art, richly illustrated and recounted by experts from France's pre-eminent museums, the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, charts the growth of this fruitful - and revolutionary - period in the history of Western art.