Skip to main content
  • Tickets
  • Rates
  • Exhibitions
  • Shop

Conference

Societal and Economic Changes in Painting from 1850 Onwards

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Conference presented by Sophie Doudet, co-organised as part of the OFF programme of the Aix-en-Provence Economic Meetings.

“If painting is a faithful - or sometimes distorted - mirror of reality, what does it reveal about the profound socio-economic transformations of the 19th century? From the Romantics to the Realists, from the Impressionists to the avant-gardes, we will explore how painters became lucid - and often critical - witnesses to the revolutions, progress, hopes and disillusionments of their time. Did artists and the political and economic figures of this century of ‘possibilities’ ultimately celebrate the same vision of modernity?”

Introduction of the speaker

Sophie Doudet

Sophie Doudet is a lecturer in French literature at the Institut d'Études Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, where she has been teaching general culture, literature, and the history of arts and ideas since 2001. She has written biographies of Winston Churchill, André Malraux, Madame de Staël, and Abbé Pierre in Gallimard's “Folio biographie” collection. She is the author of young adult novels published by Scrineo on Rimbaud, Churchill, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci. Finally, she participated in the creation of the exhibition “Camus Citoyen du monde” in Aix-en-Provence in 2013.

sophie doudet
Book your ticket

Practical information

Thursday, July 2, 2026 at 10 am

Price: Free
Duration: 1hour conference from 10 am. to 11 am. Please arrive at 9:45 am.
Location: Auditorium
Booking: Online booking required, subject to availability (40 to 50 seats). Remaining seats will be distributed at Caumont on the day of the event.
Conference held in French.