Napoleon III, the Second Empire and the Impressionist Revolution: With Edward Shawcross
About the event
Join historian and author Edward Shawcross to learn more about the momentous events and politics that shaped the art and lives of Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the early impressionists under the Second Empire. Born into imperial splendour, Louis-Napoléon – the nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte – grew up far from power after the defeat at Waterloo. In exile, he repeatedly plotted, unsuccessfully, to restore his uncle’s empire. Few took him seriously. What followed is one of the more improbable stories in history. Aged 40, Louis-Napoléon would be elected president of France. Three years later, he seized power to become emperor and create the Second Empire (1852-70). Under this illiberal regime, fine art was harnessed to state power; the Paris Salon policed work to mirror the Empire’s narrative. Yet the regime was also one of radical innovation and the emperor claimed to represent the will of the people. To that end, in 1863 Napoleon III launched the Salon des Refusés, the infamous experiment to democratise art. Nervous that displaying his work at such a controversial event would see traditional critics shun him, twenty-two-year-old Pierre-Auguste Renoir withdrew his entry. But Renoir and his impressionists contemporaries such as Édouard Manet and Claude Monet continued their rebellion against state-backed traditional history painting. This revolt was shaped by the tumultuous politics of the Empire: the invasion of Mexico (immortalised in Édouard Manet’s ‘Execution of Maximilian’); the Exposition Universelle of 1867; and the catastrophic Franco-Prussian War, which led to the fall of Napoleon III, the siege of Paris and the Paris Commune. Access: For House and Exhibition Members.
