French Literary Realism and Impressionism in Painting

The paper is investigating the paradoxical interaction of realism and impressionism in 19 th -century French literature, based on the study of their similarities and differences, and how they worked together in shaping great French realist novels (Émile Zola “Thérèse Raquin”, Gustave Flaubert “Madame Bovary”). The consideration of the historical beginnings, techniques and development of these art movements are expressed through analysis of the scientific works by various art critics. The study revealed that despite the strong stylistic and technical differences of realism and impressionism, they are inextricably linked. The development of science, technologies and the growth of industrialism changed artists’ perception and their vision of the world. After the second part of 19 th century artturned to new concept, focusing its interest not on history or philosophical problems, but on a contemporary fleeting moment and everyday life. Impressionism characterized by the desire to implement this concept, emphasizing true-to-life expression, what influenced on the nature of French realist literature. Therefore, in the philosophical senseliterary realism may be considered as impressionism. The achieved aim of the study is the determination of specific literary and linguistic forms in French realist novels depicting this connection with impressionist vision.