Hubert Robert - La pasarela

In La Pasarela, we see a character painting below, almost hidden. He is taking notes of nature, and with this, the artist is telling us that his painting is based on an empirical experience, and that his scenes reproduce reality. In the second half of the 18th century, and as a prelude to the 19th, the need to paint in imitation of nature spreads throughout Europe. There are no longer idealized or imaginary images, but real environments. Landscapes inhabited by men and women, not wild nature, but man-dominated, like in this oval canvas, probably a commission to decorate a bourgeois interior. For more UN videos visit www.un.org