Art is Cool

Back To Classics: Romanticism

Back To Classics: Romanticism

Romanticism defines a period in art, music, architecture, literature and intellectual movement in the late 18th century till the mid 19th century. It was a time where it was partially a reaction towards the political and social movements that were going on at that time, keeping in mind that the Industrial Revolution had started and also what is known as The Age of Enlightenment (maybe we’ll write a blog about the real Illuminati as follow up). You also had the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars during that time.  As we have seen through out history that the state in which society occurs has had a major influence on art, and that can be either a positive or a negative influence. That is why this movement portrayed strong emotions such as terror and awe.

A couple of famous artists to have come from this period were Francisco Goya (Tapestry Cartoons), William Blake (A Vision Of The Last Judgement), Richard Wilson (Lake Avernus) and JMW Turner (Fishermen at Sea). Most paintings from this time period where landscape paintings, and portrayed heavy storms.

 My favorite artist from this period is Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) who was a Swiss painter but spend most of his time in England. His art could be described as dark and gothic. Fuseli wanted to drift away from drawing war and war related paintings to drawing the human mind. He is well known for painting the supernatural, with one of the most famous paintings being ‘The Nightmare”. Another famous painting was “The Head of a Damned Soul” which appeared in Dante’s Inferno (a must read book I must add)

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I do not only love him for his paintings, but also just for what is known about his career and personal life.

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 This painting (The Nightmare) has a lot of going on, there is woman who appears to be sleeping, and then there is an incubus on her somewhat lifeless body and a horse head in the background.  The horse head and the incubus represent nightmares in contemporary believes and folkore. Also the colors that he used and the techniques do really give you the feeling that something sinister and dark is going on. There is also an interesting story about him proposing to the love of his life, but her dad refused to give his blessings. That is why critics believe that there are sexual themes found in the painting, which at that time was scandalous. Nonetheless this is a marvelous piece and I would really advice you to check out the work itself and see what you can interpret from it.



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