This is a study of the relation between the fine arts and philosophy in France, from the aftermath of the 1789 revolution to the end of the nineteenth century, when a philosophy of being called "monism" - the concept of a unity of matter and spirit - emerged and became increasingly popular among intellectuals, artists and scientists.

Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer traces the evolution and impact of this monist thought and its various permutations as a transformative force on certain aspects of French art and culture - from Romanticism to Impressionism - and as a theoretical backdrop that paved the way to as yet unexplored aspects of a modernist aesthetic. Chapters concentrate on three major artists, Th