Final answer:
Realism created a modern picture of the world by truthfully portraying everyday life and reflecting the impact of societal changes. Baudelaire's 'The Painter of Modern Life' pressed artists to represent the era they live in, marking a shift from Romanticism to portraying reality.
Step-by-step explanation:
Realism offered a distinctively modern picture of the world by emphasizing the depiction of everyday life and the experiences of all social classes with truth and accuracy, eschewing the extravagant emotionalism and idealized subjects that characterized the Romantic era before it. Realists painted real activities, such as laborers in the fields and life in the cities, thus reflecting the transformative effects of the Industrial and Commercial Revolutions.
Charles Baudelaire's essay, 'The Painter of Modern Life', illustrates how Realism embraced modernity by insisting that artists should focus on the times they live in, rather than distant pasts or fantasy. Baudelaire's idea was that the heroism found in the daily lives of ordinary people, and their struggles, was a subject worthy of high art and mirrored the changes in society.
Through Realism, artists such as Courbet and Millet rejected the Romantic period's depiction of the sublime and instead brought forward the ordinary, allowing art to challenge traditional portrayals and to serve as a form of social commentary. This emphasis on the real opposed to the ideal allowed Realism to document the modern experiences as they were, ushering in a new era where art was not just an imitation of life, but a reflection of its complexities and nuances.