Genre painting, also called genre scene or petit genre, attempts to depict aspects of everyday life, via portraits of ordinary people engaged in common activities. These depictions can be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Because of their familiar and sentimental subject matter, genre paintings have often proven popular with the bourgeoisie, or middle class. Self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh A portrait is a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century Bourgeoisie (boorzhwäz-ee´) in modern use refers to the wealthy or propertied classes in a capitalist society. ...

Genre paintings like those by Adriaen and Isaac van Ostade, Tenier, Cuyp, Johannes Vermeer and Pieter De Hooch became popular in the Netherlands in the 17th century. These works inspired eighteenth-century French painters who also sought to depict everyday life, whether through careful realism in the works of Chardin or the romanticized paintings of Watteau. Peasants in a Tavern by Adriaen van Ostade (c. ... A Winter Scene by Isaac van Ostade (c. ... Teniers was a family of celebrated Flemish painters that included: David Teniers the Elder (1582-1649) David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690) David Teniers III (1638-1685) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Negro Page Aelbert Jacobsz Cuyp (October 20, 1620 - November 15, 1691) was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the 17th century. ... Milkmaid (1658-1660) Johannes Vermeer (1632 - December 15, 1675) was a Dutch painter. ... Musical Party in a Courtyard (1677) Pieter de Hooch (pronounced Hoak, also spelled Hoogh or Hooghe) (1629 - 1684) was a genre painter during the Dutch Golden Age. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. ... Self portrait. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement in the history of ideas that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... The Mona Lisa is perhaps the best-known artistic painting in the Western world. ... Jean-Antoine Watteau (October 10, 1684 _ July 18, 1721) was a French painter. ...

Genre paintings have been created wherever artists seek to celebrate and record the everyday experiences of the middle class. The works of American painter Ernie Barnes and those of illustrator Norman Rockwell could exemplify a more modern type of genre painting. Today, genre paintings can also provide a window into the everyday life of a bygone era. The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... Ernest Eugene Barnes Jr. ... Norman Rockwell Norman Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an early 20th century American painter. ...

See also

• Hierarchy of genres