The Colors of Architecture in 19th Century France

This talk will look at the debates over polychromy in architecture from the 1830s to the 1890s that brought architects and painters often into conversation. It will move from the critique of the whiteness of Neoclassicism in the 1830s, and the movement to restore the color of medieval interiors in the works of Viollet-le-Duc and his followers and circle (Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame) to the critique of the monochrome city after the fall of the Second Empire, when Degas and the Impressionists were most active. It will look at the search for permanent color through both new and ancient materials from mosaic to volcanic encaustic panels, looking at such monuments as Garnier’s Opera and the richly colored facades of the great department stores.