Romanticism

Revision

Characteristics Romanticism is characterised by:

Imaginative and subjective approach

Emotional intensity Dream-like or visionary quality Suggestion states or intense

feelings, mystical

Subjects The subjects chosen tend to be:

Nature, especially wild and mysterious

Exotic Melancholy Melodramatic facts that evoke

passion

Other Characteristics It stressed emotion, imagination

and freedom Denied previous social

conventions such as the position of the aristocracy

Influenced by the Illustration

Values Cult of the artist as a genius Emphasis on common language Depiction of apparently daily

experience Experimentation with non-classical

forms

Interests The past Old forms Ruins in contact with nature Mythic and legendary material Low culture was higher valuate

that high culture

France It is the time of Napoleonic wars

so it was inspired in contemporary events

Style is colourful and emotional Main artists are:

Gericault Delacroix

France Gericault:

He emphasized the heroism and sufferance

Powerful brushstrokes Conflicting light and dark tones Sense of isolation and vulnerability Work: The Raft of the Medusa

France Delacroix:

Subjects frequently taken from literature Use of colour to create an effect of pure

energy and emotion Half-tones derived from juxtaposing to a

colour its complement Energetic vibration and nervous

brushstrokes Works: Death of Sardanapalus, Freedom

Conducting the Country, Massacre at Chios

Germany Painting was inspired by the conception

of nature as a manifestation of the divine.

Symbolic landscape paining Authors:

Friedrich The Nazarenes:

Attempted to discover the style and spirit of medieval art

Overbeck and von Schwind (Germanic mythology and fairy tales).

Germany Friedrich:

Meditative landscaped Paintings of lucid and meticulous

style Subtle mystical feeling and sense of

melancholy, solitude Romantic pessimism

England Landscapes were essential Innovative styles with simplicity of style Influences of William Blake Constable

Landscapes influenced by feelings He worked in open air Luminous colours Thick brushwork.

England Turner:

Radical pictorial vision Concerned with atmospheric effects

of light and colour It is frequent to find in his works

clouds, mist, snow Objects look to dissolve in his works

Late Romanticism French Barbizon School:

Quiet and atmospheric landscapes Authors: Corot and Rousseau

Pre-Raphaelites: They revived the medieval mission of the

Nazarenes Arthur’s legend and feminine images Authors: Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel

Rossetti, Millais

Influence Barbizon School is linked to

Impressionism Symbolist movement:

Subjectivity Imagination Dream-like imagery

Freedom in Arts continues nowadays.