Enlightenment Ideas Spread Section #2 Paris, France was the heart of the Enlightenment. Ideas flowed from from France, across Europe. Thinkers examined traditional beliefs and customs in the light of reason and found them flawed.

Map of The Enlightenment

New Ideas Challenge Society Enlightenment ideas spread quickly through many levels of society. Spread of Enlightenment Ideas

Salons Informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas.

Arts and Literature Reflect New Ideas In the 1600s and 1700s, the arts evolved to meet changing tastes. BaroqueRococo

Baroque Art Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus 1601 Baroque art is less complex and more realistic. The movement was encouraged by the Catholic Church as a return to tradition and spirituality.

Rococo Art Francois Boucher The Fountain of Love 1748 Characterized by elegant, refined yet playful subject matters. Decorative designs were used to illustrate stories.

The Enlightenment Inspires Composers The new Enlightenment ideals led composers and musicians to develop new forms of music (baroque to rococo). An elegant style of “ classical ” emerged. Ballets, operas were performed for the social elite. Mozart, The Musical Genius (cd)

Enlightened Despots Embrace New Ideas The courts of Europe became enlivened as philosophes tried to persuade rulers to adopt their ideas. The philosophes hoped to convince the ruling classes that reform was necessary. Those rulers that did accept these new ideas became enlightened despots, or absolute rulers who used their power to bring about political and social change. Frederick the Great Catherine the Great Joseph II

Major Enlightened Despots Frederick the GreatCatherine the GreatJoseph II

Lives of the Majority Change Slowly Many Europeans were untouched by either courtly or middle-class culture. They remained peasants living in small rural villages By the late 1700s, radical ideas about equality and social justice finally seeped in peasant villages. In the 1800s, war and political upheaval, as well as changing economic conditions, would transform peasant life in Europe.