Academic art - The fires of academism

Academic art (late 19th century), known as "Art Pompier", is back in vogue, notably due to Hollywood's appropriation of its aesthetic.

The Académie des Beaux-Arts of France was founded during the reign of Louis XIV. Time passes, but the training remains: students learn to render forms by practicing drawing from nature or from antiquity, hence the many trips students made to Rome.

At the end of the 19th century, academic art, official art, was criticized by the many new schools emerging. Under the Second Empire, it ironically received the nickname "art pompier" from the avant-gardists of the time, in reference to the shiny helmets of the glorious painted soldiers which resembled firemen's helmets; the term also denounced the "pomposity" of the scenes depicted.

At this time, the Academicians illustrated the classical ideal with astonishing, almost photographic precision. They favored historical and orientalist, monumental scenes, where nudes were very common, like Alexandre Cabanel's magnificent Birth of Venus.

In this work, you will find the works of the greatest academicians of the second half of the 19th century, such as Alexandre Cabanel, Ernest Meissonier, William Bouguereau, and Jean-Léon Gérôme.