Romanticism EWW NO Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer Above

Romanticism?

EWW. NO!

Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog What artistic characteristics do you notice about this painting?

Romanticism Context n The Visual Arts n Music n Literature n

Enlightenment/Neoclassical/Age of Reason Ideas n Reason n Universal Truths n Natural Order n Academics n Classical n (Think Epics!)

Romantic Ideas • Love of Nature • Idealization of Rural Living • Faith in Common People • Emphasis on Freedom and Individualism • Spontaneity, intuition, feeling, imagination, wonder - Rejection of organized religion, tradition

From Enlightenment to Romanticism Industrial Revolution French Revolution 1750 1789 1800 Revolutions & Rise of Nationalism 1850

From Enlightenment to Romanticism Descartes: “Cogito, ergo sum” Rousseau: “Exister, pour nous, c’est sentir” (I think, therefore I exist. ) Romanticism as a reaction to: v v v The Age of Reason The Industrial Revolution The French Revolution (For us, to exist is to feel. )

Romanticism & The Industrial Revolution What might be some negative effects of The Industrial Revolution?

Romanticism & The French Revolution - French emotional reaction - Middle class dominance - Underclass causes adopted - Frustration of common people from lack of political and economic agency Out of this revolution comes… Freedom Nationalism Individualism

Visual Arts: Examples Romantic Art Neoclassical Art Death of Marat How are these two pieces of art different? What words best describe these paintings?

n n Romantic Neoclassical

What style is this? How does Nature appear in this painting?

Bottom Right Detail JM Turner The Slave Ship

What does this painting say about individualism and the common man?

This painting depicts an 1808 shooting at Montana del Principe Pio. Can you tell Goya’s reaction to the event? What features indicate his reaction?

Breaking from Neoclassical Art "If you want to do art you must first study the rules, second study the great masters, third forget the rules, because genius begins where trite rules end. ” - Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 -1792)

What rules does Reynolds break in this painting?

Visual Arts: Summary v v Earlier art (neoclassical art) was rigid, severe, and unemotional. Follows strict classical rules from ancient Greece and Rome. v Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to earlier styles (neoclassical art). • Conveyed personal feeling of artist. • Glorified the common man. • Depicted the exotic (subjects). • Landscapes/Nature became important.

Romantic Literature v n n n The publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798 is considered the beginning of literary Romanticism. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge Byron, Shelley, Keats The Gothic Novel… Frankenstein

“[Romanticism] must have come on like punk rock to a public groaning under the weight of overcooked Augustinisms. ” “They said, we'd be artistically free When we signed that bit of paper. ” -The Clash How can Romanticism be seen as a rebellion against The System, The Man, The Accepted? Augustinisms = classical, religious commentary from Augustine.

Romantic Literature Relationship with Nature “Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part Of me and my soul, as I of them? ” - Byron “[A mountain is] the type of a majestic intellect, . . . There I beheld the emblem of a giant mind that feeds upon infinity. ” - Wordsworth What is the relationship between Romantic Artists and nature?

What is the sublime? Often associated with huge, overpowering natural phenomena like mountains, waterfalls, turbulent seas, and thunderstorms, the “delightful terror” inspired by sublime visions was supposed both to remind viewers of their own insignificance in the face of nature and divinity and to inspire them with a sense of transcendence.

How did the sublime relate to the beautiful? Mere beauty was thought by the Romantics to be inferior to the concept of the “sublime. ” The British writer and statesman Edmund Burke, who was interested in categorizing aesthetic responses, identified beauty with delicacy and harmony, and he identified the sublime with vastness, obscurity, and a capacity to inspire terror.

The Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, Turner Philippe Jacques De Loutherbourg

Defining Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19 th century. v Romanticism is broadly characterized by: v v Imagination v Emotion v Inspiration v Individuality

Imagination v v Imagination was emphasized over “reason. ” This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical “Age of Reason. ” Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art. British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition. ”

Emotion Romantics placed value on feeling and instincts over reason. v Emotions were important in Romantic art. v British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. ” v

Inspiration The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master. ” v Romantic writers were “going with the flow, ” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise” like Milton, Pope, John Donne. v

Individuality v v Romantics celebrated the individual. Triumph of common man in French Revolution. Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements. Walt Whitman, an American Romantic writer, wrote a lengthy poem entitled “Song of Myself”; it begins, “I celebrate myself…”