Fragonard

ROCOCO ART

By lissa.dehring@gmail.com
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    ROCOCO ART

    Rococo art (1715–1790) is marked by lightness, elegance, and ornate detail, favoring pastel colors, curves, and playful decoration. Emerging in France, it celebrated leisure, romance, and aristocratic pleasure through themes like fête galante and sensual mythologies. Artists such as Watteau, Boucher, and Fragonard emphasized charm and intimacy over Baroque grandeur. Though later dismissed as frivolous, Rococo reflected the refined tastes of French aristocracy seeking beauty, delight, and escape.
  • Jean-Antoine Watteau, The Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, o/c, 4’3” X 6’4” Musee de Louvre, Paris

    Jean-Antoine Watteau, The Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, o/c, 4’3” X 6’4” Musee de Louvre, Paris

    Watteau’s Pilgrimage to Cythera (1717) is significant because it introduced the fête galante genre, depicting elegant aristocrats in dreamlike, romantic settings of leisure and love. The blend of theatricality, delicacy, and pastoral fantasy defined the Rococo style with intimate, playful themes.
  • François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, 1751, oil on canvas, 42 5/8" x 33 1/2" Metropolitan Museum of Art

    François Boucher, The Toilet of Venus, 1751, oil on canvas, 42 5/8" x 33 1/2" Metropolitan Museum of Art

    François Boucher’s The Toilet of Venus (1751) exemplifies Rococo’s sensual elegance, portraying the goddess in a soft, idealized manner surrounded by cherubs, rich fabrics, and delicate ornamentation. Commissioned for Madame de Pompadour, it reflects both the playful, erotic charm of Rococo art and its role in celebrating aristocratic ideals of beauty, intimacy, and refined pleasure.
  • François Boucher, The Blonde Odalisque or Girl Reclining: Louise O’Murphy, 1752, o/c, 23  x 29 in, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

    François Boucher, The Blonde Odalisque or Girl Reclining: Louise O’Murphy, 1752, o/c, 23  x 29 in, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

    Boucher’s The Blonde Odalisque (1752) exemplifies Rococo sensuality and elegance, depicting Louise O’Murphy, mistress of Louis XV, reclining nude amid luxurious silks and cushions. The painting highlights beauty, erotic charm, and aristocratic taste, blending intimacy, playful eroticism, and exotic or mythological themes, reflecting Rococo’s focus on leisure, refinement, and the celebration of the female form in a decorative, intimate setting.
  • Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767, O/C, 32” x 25.25” Wallace Collection, London

    Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, 1767, O/C, 32” x 25.25” Wallace Collection, London

    Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Swing (1767) is one of the most iconic Rococo paintings, celebrated for its playful, flirtatious, and sensual charm. It depicts a young woman on a swing, pushed by an older man while her lover hides in the bushes, glimpsing under her dress. The work showcases Rococo’s pastel palette, curving lines, delicate ornamentation, and emphasis on leisure, romance, and aristocratic pleasure, capturing the lighthearted, erotic, and whimsical spirit of the era.
  • Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Oil on canvas, 1778. 107.5” x 76” Kunsthistorisches Museum

    Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Queen of France Oil on canvas, 1778. 107.5” x 76” Kunsthistorisches Museum

    Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s portrait of Marie Antoinette bridges Rococo and Neoclassicism. It retains Rococo elegance through soft colors, delicate brushwork, and luxurious fabrics, highlighting aristocratic beauty. Simultaneously, it anticipates Neoclassicism with restrained composition, calm poses, and subtle classical references, emphasizing dignity and virtue. The work transitions from decorative charm to formal, moral representation, reflecting late 18th-century French artistic shifts.