Overview

If the Baroque was a heavy, dramatic opera about God and Kings, the Rococo was a light, flirty pop song about lovers and picnics. Emerging in France in the early 18th century (reign of Louis XV), it was the style of the aristocracy having fun. It moved away from the grandeur of Versailles to the intimate “salons” of Paris.

Core Idea

The core idea is Pleasure. Art doesn’t have to teach a lesson or scare you. It can just be delightful. Rococo is about pastel colors (pink, baby blue), soft light, and frivolous subjects (swinging in a garden, stealing a kiss). It is the art of the “Fête Galante” (elegant party).

Formal Definition

A style of 18th-century French art and interior design. The name comes from rocaille (shellwork) + barocco. It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation.

Intuition

Think of a wedding cake. White frosting, sugar flowers, gold leaf, swirls. It is sweet, airy, and purely decorative. That is a Rococo room. It is designed to make you feel lighthearted and witty.

Examples

  • Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing (1767): The ultimate Rococo painting. A girl in a pink dress swings high in a lush garden, kicking off her shoe. Her lover is hiding in the bushes, looking up her skirt. It is naughty, frothy, and beautifully painted.
  • Antoine Watteau: The inventor of the Fête Galante. He painted aristocrats lounging in parks. But unlike Fragonard, his paintings have a touch of sadness (melancholy)—a sense that the party will end soon.
  • François Boucher: Painted myths of Venus and Diana, but they looked like French mistresses. He famously said nature was “too green and badly lit.”

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s shallow: Yes, it is. But that was the point. It was a reaction against the heavy seriousness of the previous age. It celebrated the artificial and the refined.
  • It’s feminine: It was often dismissed as “feminine” (pejoratively) because of the pastels and curves. But it was a powerful cultural force that shaped the Enlightenment salon culture where philosophy was discussed.
  • Chinoiserie: The Rococo craze for Chinese goods (porcelain, lacquer). They didn’t care about authentic Chinese culture; they just loved the exotic look and incorporated dragons and pagodas into their designs.
  • The Salon: The intellectual gatherings hosted by women (salonnières) where Rococo art was displayed and revolutionary ideas were debated.

Applications

  • Interior Design: Rococo is primarily an interior style. It is about mirrors, chandeliers, and furniture.
  • Fashion: The elaborate wigs, corsets, and silk dresses of Marie Antoinette are the wearable version of Rococo.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Decadence: It became the symbol of the corrupt, out-of-touch aristocracy. When the French Revolution came (1789), they chopped off the heads of the Rococo patrons. The style was replaced by the stern, moral Neoclassicism.

Further Reading

  • Kimball, Fiske. The Creation of the Rococo. 1943.
  • Levey, Michael. Rococo to Revolution. 1966.
  • Goncourt, Edmond and Jules. French Eighteenth-Century Painters. 1860.