The Boulevard and the Salon: Popular Theatre and Romanticism in 1824

Abstract

On 24 August 1824, a vaudeville entitled La St-Louis des artistes announced the opening of the most important artistic event in France during the Restoration, the Salon of 1824. This article analyses popular theatre in relation to French Romantic painting and emphasises the link between popular spectacle, high art and politics during the Restoration. The comparison of popular theatre and Romantic painting by artists like Eugène Delacroix and Charles-Emile Champmartin underscores the ‘intermedialityrsquo; of visual culture during the Restoration and suggests the importance of popular culture for the critical debate over Romanticism, for the innovative form of Romantic painting, and for state patronage of this controversial art.