How did realism reflect the culture of the industrial age

Realism was an artistic and cultural movement that occurred simultaneously with late Romanticism. In some ways it seems the opposite of Romanticism. Where Romantic artists often emphasized fantasy, imagination and the artist's unique vision, Realism attempted to portray the life of common people in a highly accurate manner. Realist painters created works with almost photographic attention to detail, and Realist writers tried to accurately reflect social conditions in their novels. On another level, though, Romantics and Realists were alike. Both movements were reactions to social conditions produced by the industrial revolution. The wide-scale implementation of machine power had led to the growth of large factories whose owners grew wealthy while the working and lower classes toiled long hours for low pay. Attempts by workers to better their lot were often suppressed, and anger and resentment at predatory, unregulated capitalism fueled strikes and revolts. Many Realist artists and thinkers used their work to portray the actual living conditions of common people, an act they hoped would spur social and economic reform. In addition, Realism reflected a growing scientific materialism. Since Bacon, scientists had been systematically investigating and describing the world. By the 19th Century, these scientific explanations were challenging religious assumptions about the origin of human beings, their nature and uniqueness. Traditional religious belief began to lose its place as an unquestioned dogma. Moreover, both capitalists and Marxists took a materialist view about human economic relationships.

Realism depicted the important achievements of the industrial revolution