Postures et couleurs – les femmes prostituées dans la peinture française au XIXe siècle
Postures and Colors - Women Prostitutes in French Painting in the XIXth Century

Summary/Abstract: The phenomenon of the prostitution is a major subject in the nineteenth century, influencing the social, the literary, but also the artistic area. The painting represents the field of art where this theme is reproduced through the visual. Facial expressions, gestures, colors, shapes, body positions were so well realized by the painters that they have managed to unveil stories and scenes quite suggestive and explicit. The woman was a subject in vogue during the nineteenth century and the painters revealed her nudity, her body, her sexuality and his seductive power. In addition, they adopted the theme of prostitution painting portraits in order to represent the image of women. On the other hand, they also transposed scenes illustrating the various concerns and feelings of the prostitute: fun, exhibitionism, sexuality. They also showed the rules of society where prostitutes were involved: the health control, syphilis, relationships with men. Through painting we propose to reveal a taboo subject that was part of the French and Francophone culture especially in the nineteenth century. Painters like Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec used different techniques to expose the female body in all its glory. By analyzing some suggestive pictures, we will emphasize the representation of prostitutes in the nineteenth century. Our aim will be to focus on the postures of the body, the nudity, the decors, or the different styles that can capture the interest in this theme. The reality of the image, the clarity and the decors were extremely well revealed for us not think that it represents a simulacrum of the reality, but a real existence.

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