Why Rococo artists were rebels?

Rebels of a new generation

In comparison to the preceding art style, Rococo art reflected lack of depth and its portrayal of an upper class pursuing personal amusement was in itself a reaction against the formality of the Baroque style. While Baroque art was serious, Rococo was playful. Baroque art depicted heroism, martyrs and biblical stories, but Rococo painters showed lovey-dovey themes and aristocracy at play. Larger-than-life religious or political themes were replaced with light-hearted themes revolving around fun, lovers and naughty behaviour. Baroque used dark colours, Rococo used soft and bright colours in a very optimistic “life is beautiful” ambiance. Also, unlike Baroque, Rococo art was not intellectually deep or provocative. Even the size of paintings went through a drastic change, Baroque paintings with propaganda aims (for the Church or the State) had to be large and easily visible from afar, but Rococo paintings were much smaller in order to make them ideal for decoration. Being purely decorative was the reason why Rococo art did not earn much respect from art scholars.

Neither the Church nor governments played any role in the rise of this art movement. It was a sign that French society was less devoted to religion. While some churches were built in and decorated in the Rococo style, generally the religious element was nonexistent in Rococo paintings.

Critics called Rococo art modish, meaning a fad that emerges then disappears. They condemned the art style for being shallow and tasteless. Some critics went as far to label it licentious art and hence the backlash grew against it. With strong criticism from intellectuals like Voltaire, around 1760s, the movement started to decline in France and slowly throughout Europe.