Genre painting, which primarily developed in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century, refers to scenes depicting the everyday life of people. It typically encompassed street and tavern scenes, markets, and domestic interiors. The term came into use in the mid-nineteenth century, with the genre evolving to include depictions of modern life and urbanisation.
The Intruder: A Lady at Her Toilet Surprised by Her Lover 1665
Pieter de Hooch (1629–1684)
English Heritage, The Wellington Collection, Apsley HouseIn 1648 the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) decided to classify five hierarchies of genre (or type) in painting.
Scenes from daily life (which is confusingly called genre painting in art history) was ranked quite low – above landscape and still life but below portraiture and history painting, which was ranked highest.
Although genre painting wasn't seen to be as serious or academic as history painting and portraiture, it didn't rank at the bottom because it included depictions of people – albeit ordinary, unknown people.
Genre painting often combines aspects of portraiture and history painting.
A conversation about genre painting in front of The Lacemaker (c.1656) by Dutch painter Nicolaes Maes, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Video credit: Smarthistory
Originally, and still, used to denote different categories of painting—portraiture, landscape, still life, etc. More usually, however, it is now specifically associated with scenes of everyday life, especially those produced by the painters of 19th-century Holland such as Gerard ter Borch, Jan Steen, and Pieter de Hooch. The term was first used in this sense by the French critic Quatremère de Quincy in 1791—‘genre properly speaking, [is] scenes of everyday life’—and had gained widespread acceptance as such by the middle of the 19th century.
A Young Woman standing at a Virginal about 1670-2
Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675)
The National Gallery, LondonGenre scenes were popular in northern Europe, especially the Netherlands in the seventeenth century. Painting of this type depicted a wide variety of subjects, from rowdy taverns and busy kitchens to milkmaids and housewives absorbed in their work.
What's more, genre painting focused on the everyday lives of people, both high and low, and were sought after by an emerging middle class with money to spend.
The beginnings of genre painting can be traced to the sixteenth-century peasant scenes of Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the elder.
In the Netherlands during 1620–30, Frans Hals and Adriaen Brouwer were some of the first artists to paint genre scenes, often focusing on drinking and merrymaking.
Throughout the Dutch Golden Age, artists such as Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen and Pieter de Hooch gained a reputation as masters of the genre – Vermeer in particular stands out for his quiet, contemplative works.
Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin (1699–1779)
The Hunterian, University of GlasgowEighteenth-century French artists such as Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Antoine Watteau became adept at scenes of everyday life – despite the French Academy at this time still promoting the hierarchies of genre.
Chardin, who was influenced by earlier Dutch genre scenes, often focused on servants, children, and people engaged in everyday activities such as drinking tea.
Watteau and Fragonard became known for their fête galantes – depictions of elites socialising in parkland settings – and more sentimental scenes.
In the nineteenth century, the realistic works of Gustave Courbet included hunting pictures, as well as works that combined portraiture with genre scenes.
A Rake's Progress: 5 – The Rake Marrying an Old Woman 1734
William Hogarth (1697–1764)
Sir John Soane’s MuseumThe morality pictures of eighteenth-century British artist William Hogarth can be seen as a specific type of satirical genre painting. His works poke fun at contemporary life.
In contrast, Joseph Wright of Derby celebrated scientific discovery in the age of Enlightenment, often depicting the reactions of everyday people.
Another artist indebted to Dutch and Flemish genre painting was Victorian artist David Wilkie, whose genre scenes combine narrative skill with attention to detail. The panoramic views and crowd scenes of William Powell Frith teem with nineteenth-century life – Hogarth's impact is especially clear.
In the late nineteenth century, the Impressionists turned their attention to everyday scenes painted outdoors and 'on the spot'.
Artists such as Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot chose to depict modern life, including cafes and theatres, as well as family scenes.
For British artists such as Walter Sickert and others associated with the Camden Town Group, modernity was explored in city scenes and claustrophobic interiors. Harold Gilman specialised in everyday domestic settings, while music halls captivated Spencer Gore.
In the mid-twentieth century, the Kitchen Sink painters such as John Bratby and Derrick Greaves focused exclusively on ordinary people in ordinary settings – their social realist art included everything but the kitchen sink.
Contemporary genre scenes include an array of subjects and styles. Caroline Walker's intimate depictions of women in domestic settings and Njideka Akunyili Crosby's living rooms which reference her Nigerian heritage have clear links with traditional genre painting.
Similarly, Denzil Forrester's crowded club scenes and Hurvin Anderson's barbershop paintings show everyday places or people engaged in common activities. One of Anderson's influences is Michael Andrews, who depicted himself swimming with his daughter.
Since Andy Warhol made art using a soup can in the 1960s, artists have experimented with everyday objects. Primarily an installation, Tracey Emin's My Bed (1998) can be situated in the genre tradition. Sarah Lucas frequently uses common objects such as cigarettes and mattresses, while photographer Martin Parr zooms in on everyday rituals.
Solange Gulizzi
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