Description
Strictly speaking, there is no definition of the genre scene, except for the realism with which it brings together various subjects, sometimes made up of those little things that make the charm of existence. To paint scenes of everyday life is to paint life in all these states, in these fragmented moments.
The renewal and development of so-called “genre” painting are the work of Flemish and Dutch painters, which they brought to its peak in the 17th century. They detail many aspects of life and expose the manners of their most modest contemporaries with verve and humor. Tobacco, alcohol, tavern scenes or popular festivities are the recurring subjects of these compositions. Artists – such as Steen or Van Ostade – give these subjects a human, moving, living dimension thanks to the realism of the sets and the great expressiveness of the characters.
The taste of the elites is gradually detached from the great historical and religious subjects to favor the history of the anonymous, and it was the bourgeois who – to decorate their small cabinets – preferred realistic scenes to classical subjects.
In France in the 17th century, while artists like Poussin continued to draw their inspiration from mythological tales, some painters like Georges de La Tour borrow their subjects from reality, painting rural scenes or even cabaret scenes, marked by the humility sometimes even triviality – like this joyous procession, in the colors of the French Revolution and resembling a musical comedy.
The work & its composition
The 19th century had a taste for the panorama and new trends allowed artists to translate, through form and color, street scenes inspired by leisure and entertainment, which then represented a simple anecdote seen as a social allegory.
This genre scene – intended to elicit a smile from the viewer – emphasizes the picturesque rural festivities.
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