This work discusses the art of Gustave Courbet in the years directly after the 1848 revolution, showing how complex Courbet's intuition of the social and political issues of the time really was, and how appropriate were the pictures he painted for the Salon of 1851.

An introduction to 15th century Italian painting and the social history behind it, arguing that the two are interlinked and that the conditions of the time helped fashion distinctive elements in the painter's style.

Exploring the themes of leisure and entertainment that dominated the years of Impressionist painting between 1865 and 1885, the author shows how Impressionism was integrated into the social and cultural life of its times.

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Berthe Morisot was an important woman impressionist. She refused to accept the limitations imposed by her time, class and gender and became an accomplished and popular painters of the 19th century.

Surrealism has long been seen as a movement of love and liberation. In this study, Hal Foster reads from its other, darker side - as an art given over to the uncanny, to the compulsion to repeat and the drive toward death.