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I. Misery hidden under Rococo decoration… The second half of the 18th century is dominated by the Rococo style, mostly a decorative style. In France, artists such as Boucher(1), Watteau (2), Fragonard (3) were painting with the major aim of entertaining, decorating and illustrating the status of the French aristocracy. Their subject matter was idyllic, futile and decadent with no accuracy of the major part of the population. Fragonard's recurrent subject was wealthy young aristocrats having secret love affairs,example ''the Swing''(3)… The French Aristocracy's ignorance of the kingdom's misery is reflected to Art as a lack of judgment, accuracy… With the rising of the Enlightenment period, Europe enters the period of revolutions… i. ii. ''Period of Revolutions'' and Neo-classism At 1776 The American Independence war started to end at 1799 declaring the U.S.A…. The New country has been created with democratic and idealistism from the Antique world . At The end of the 18th century, one of the Encyclopediste philosophers, Montesquieu, declared that the Antique Roman Society was the best model for a better society. The rise of interest in the antiquity, rise of excavations , spreading skepticism which made artists think more on ther subject matter than the Rococo period gave birth to the Neo-classic movement which has been adopted as a national style for the U.S.A.. Thomas jefferson,expressed Neo-classicism in many public buildings as the Virginia state Capitol(4), influenced by the ''Maison Carrée''(5) at Nimes, France, a ruin from ancient Rome… Jefferson probably chose the style to reflect Antique political systems pureness as a role model for the U.S.A…. France had it's revolution between 17789-99 ,artists reflected a contrasting movement to the elitist, decadent aristocracy, the pure, sober Neo-classicism. They often praised Heroism, moral values by examples coming from the antiquity. Ingres (6), Jean- Baptiste Greuze (7), Jean Antoine Gros (8) are famous examples of the Neo-classic movement but the most representative one is surely Jacques Louis David… The Neo-classical paintings has a special place in the movement, because it's the only way to express reality. Art should be sober and reflect realiity . Drawings should be objective, noble and sober. The seek of classical ideal is more focused at the form. Painters chose unified tones of hues to avoid paintings which are too much expressive… David is a politicaly involved artist who has used scenes from classical literature to illustrate values such as patriotism, liberty and the recurrent subject of Neo- classicism, heroism… In his painting ''Oath of the Horatii'' (9) , 1784, five years before the revolution,chose a subject that glorified patriotism, heroism and the importance of fighting for an idea… The sober colors, pyramidal composition, mastering of contour and antique atmosphere are a success of reflecting the movements requirements. Britain had it's Industrial Revolution which was not political, but changed the society as strongly. The metamorphosis had created an economical and moral crisis through the country. The paintings of Wright of Derby, as ''An experiment on a bird in an Air Pump''(10) is one of the warnings pointing loss of moral values … Artists has begun to work on subjects which expressed skepticism. In the U.S.A., the ideals of classical beauty reflected on monumental buildings to remind the contrasting ideology of the new country. In France, Antique scenes celebrating virtue and moral. In Britain, scenes from the freshly industrialized society, illustrated with accuracy, put the moral problems on the table… i. iii. Passion Versus Reason : Romanticism i. In 1824, At the Salon, in France, besides '' Voeu de Louis xııı'(11)', Ingres, '' Scenes from the Massacres at Chios''(12), from Delacroix made a huge success. An actuality subject, with accuracy is something new for that time. An other important painting there was, Constable's painting the Hay Wain. (13)After the Neo-classicism, an emotional landscape even without human representation started. At that time started the individualism of artists, a necessity to express personality. Artists started to choose their own subjects…One of the most important romantic artist from Britain is Wiliam Turner. He had a great ability to express allegory in his landscapes as in ''The Fighting Temeraire'' (14)where he criticized the industrialization which is killing old England values through the deconstruction of an old ship by a mechanical one…With this painting, even though the technique lacked of a high degree of finish and a proportional error, it had been accepted by the very strict Royal Academy thanks to the power of the idea.