Academicism: 100 famous paintings where the great profession comes into play

Academicism refers to painting formed by academies and consecrated by Salons, especially in the 19th century. It values drawing, anatomy, perspective, hierarchy of genres, noble subjects and very finished execution. Long despised by the avant-gardes, he returns today with amusing evidence: behind the great historical machines and the very self-confident Venuses, there is often a formidable virtuosity. We can dispute the taste official without pretending that the brush doesn't know how to work.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau embodies French academicism in its smoothest, luminous and technically brilliant version. His Venuses, nymphs, children, madonnas and allegories show a precise design, pearly skin tones, a clear composition and an almost hypnotic sense of finish. Bouguereau knows how to render skin, a look, a hand or transparency with an ease that makes you want to check if he has not signed a discreet pact with oil paint.

Jean-Léon Gérôme brings exceptional narrative precision to academicism. Pollice Verso, The Snake Charmer, the ancient, oriental or historical scenes combine archaeology, theater, detail, staging and very framing effective. Gérôme can be spectacular, sometimes controversial, but rarely vague. At home, a setting seems to have been repeated before the characters entered, and even the dust seems documented.

Alexandre Cabanel, Paul Baudry, Jules Lefebvre, Henner, Bonnat, Carolus-Duran and Dagnan-Bouveret show the strength of portraiture, the nude, allegory and the religious scene in Salon painting. The body is idealized, the gesture calculated, the feeling controlled. Academic painting likes to convince with the appearance of evidence: everything seems natural, while each fold, each shoulder and each ray of light has passed an entrance exam.

Academicism is not limited to Paris. Alma-Tadema transforms Antiquity into marble, flowers and Mediterranean light; Leighton gives the figures a decorative nobility; Waterhouse mixes Pre-Raphaelitism, myth and narrative; Makart, Siemiradzki, Matejko, Repin, Surikov, Makovsky or Aivazovsky show spectacular national versions of great painting. The Salon has cousins everywhere, and many wear very impressive costumes.

History painting remains his favorite terrain: Rome, Greece, Middle Ages, Bible, Revolution, Empire, Orient, great dramas and official heroes. Delaroche, Couture, Meissonier, Laurens, Rochegrosse, Cormon and Detaille know how to organize scenes where the viewer quickly understands who is suffering, who is triumphing, who is posing for posterity and who should have read the fine print of destiny. The large format becomes a storytelling machine, with curtains, armor and heavy looks consequence.

In a decoration, an academic work brings presence, story and an immediately readable quality of finish. Bouguereau gives ideal softness, Gérôme precise theater, Cabanel mythological elegance, Alma-Tadema an ancient light, Waterhouse a narrative romanticism, Ingres a sovereign line. It's a style for walls that love clear images, controlled bodies, memorable scenes and compositions that aren't afraid to enter through the big door.

This Top brings together paintings where academic craftsmanship, Salon painting, history, mythology, orientalism, official portraiture, academic realism and great visual stories play the leading role. Some works dialogue with neoclassicism, romanticism, realism or symbolism, but all share this same confidence in scholarly composition and impeccable execution. Academicism is not always modern, but it knows very well hold a brush well.

The current charm of academicism also comes from its slight discrepancy. What the avant-gardes found too polite may seem fascinating today: these paintings embrace spectacle, beauty, narrative, virtuosity and sometimes excess. An academic Venus does not apologize for being Venus; a gladiator of Gérôme does not wonder if he is too theatrical. They are there, impeccable, and the wall quickly understands that he has just received very dressed company.