By the middle of the XIXE CENTURY, the Western world was developing rapidly. A new generation of artists sought to express this modern world.
Especially in France, after the Revolution of 1848, several young artists wanted to paint the world exactly as they saw it, incorporating elements of technological progress and social inequality, and representing the body with a frankness never seen before. The term realism was coined by the French novelist Champfleury (1821-1889) to describe the work of his friend Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). Influenced by the realism of Dutch artists of the seventeenth century, THE PAINTINGS OF NATURAL LANDSCAPES BY DUTCH AND ENGLISH LANDSCAPERS, AS WELL AS BY THE NEWLY INVENTED TECHNIQUES OF PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHY AND OIL PAINTS, REALISTS REACTED TO PERCEIVED EXCESSES AND THE SELF-INDULGENCE OF NEOCLASSISM AND ROMANTICISM, AND TO THE ARTIFICIALITY OF ACADEMIC ART (FAVORED BY ACADEMIA) OFFICIAL EUROPEAN ART SCHOOLS). They expressed their objective opinions through painting, seeking to show the truth, avoiding stylization or artistic conventions, and instead of glorifying the rich as in traditional art, they often represented the common life of the working class or painted images of nature without any illusionism or artificiality.

Western art was then dominated by academic conventions and, as a result, art often seemed remote from real life. The realists painted the life they saw around them, including scenes with peasants and workers, the streets of the city, cafes and popular entertainment. With the free brush strokes, his subjects shocked viewers of the middle and upper class.