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Art of France: Plus Ca Change

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Plus Ca Change

07/07/2018 GMT

Art of France

BBC World News - Art of France, Plus Ca Change

French art's development up to the arrival of classicism and the Age of Enlightenment.

Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a stunning visual journey through French art history. He traces its development to the arrival of Classicism and the Age of Enlightenment.

Art historian and critic Andrew Graham-Dixon opens his latest series with the dramatic story of French art, a story of the most powerful kings ever to rule in Europe with their glittering palaces and astounding art to go in them. He also reveals how art emerged from a struggle between tradition and revolution, between rulers and a people who didn't always want to be ruled.
Starting with the first great revolution in art, the invention of Gothic architecture, he traces its development up until the arrival of Classicism and the Age of Enlightenment - and the very eve of the Revolution. Along the way some of the greatest art the world has ever seen was born including the paintings of Poussin, Watteau and Chardin, the decadent Rococo delights of Boucher and the great history paintings of Charles le Brun.

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Andrew Graham Dixon takes viewers on a stunning visual journey through French art history.

Andrew Graham-Dixon takes viewers on a stunning visual journey through seminal French works of art across the ages, revealing the history and character of a nation.

Andrew Graham-Dixon takes viewers on a stunning visual journey through seminal French works of art across the ages, revealing the history and character of a nation. From the art of absolute power in the 18th century through to modern philosophies reflected in the impressionistic movement, art and history are merged to enlightening effect. The series unlocks the connection between the unification of France and the art of absolute power, reflected in the resplendent Palace of Versailles.

With the French Revolution comes the cult of personality, expressed through artists such as Delacroix. And after the high of the revolution come crushing doubts and uncertainty, all reflected in the art of the time. The series concludes with a look at impressionism, a humanist movement that pushed French art in a bold new direction. Picasso, Corbusier and Sartre all reflect a county in crisis, at a time when France was struggling to decide which way to turn and what future to forge.


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