Overview and Historical Context of Romanticism:
– Romanticism was an intellectual and artistic movement in Europe during the late 18th century.
– Key themes included reverence for nature, idealization of the past, fascination with the exotic, and celebration of the heroic.
– Romanticism peaked from 1800 to 1850 and was influenced by the German Sturm und Drang movement and the French Revolution.
– The movement reacted against the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment rationalization.
– Romanticism was part of the Counter-Enlightenment, disrupting classic Western traditions of rationality and objective truth.
Artistic Characteristics and Purpose of Romanticism:
– Romanticism valued artistic originality, nature appreciation, and individualism.
– Romantics believed in the inspirational qualities of nature and distrusted social conventions.
– Romantic literature often featured a distinctive, personal voice.
– The movement influenced various fields such as arts, music, literature, and politics.
– Romanticism emphasized emotion, individualism, and nature glorification.
Literary and Artistic Expression of Romanticism:
– Romanticism in literature featured themes like past evocation, sensibility cult, artist isolation, and respect for nature.
– Romantic authors included Poe, Maturin, and Hawthorne.
– Romantic painting continued alongside Realism, with artists like Friedrich and Turner pushing the boundaries of the movement.
– Romantic architecture drew inspiration from the Middle Ages and Gothic architecture, with notable examples like Cologne Cathedral and Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
– Romantic sculpture was mainly found in France, with artists like François Rude and David d’Angers leading the way.
Timeline and Influence of Romanticism:
– Romanticism’s impact continued post-1850 in various fields like art, music, literature, and nature conservation efforts.
– The movement influenced film scores, political theory, and societal views on nature.
– Realism emerged as a response to Romanticism, with late 19th-century art focusing on authenticity and detail.
– Romanticism influenced by German Romanticism, Baudelaire, and had a lasting impact on the auteur movement in modern filmmaking.
– Romanticism influenced various art forms beyond painting and sculpture, with values of personal expression and emotion persisting.
Etymology and Spread of Romanticism:
– The term “Romanticism” spread in the 1820s, with origins in ‘romantic poetry’ introduced by the Schlegel brothers in the 1790s.
– Romanticism in literature spanned roughly between 1770 and 1848, with musical Romanticism continuing until around 1910.
– Nationalism was strongly associated with Romanticism in many countries.
– Romanticism as a movement valued authenticity, sincerity, and individual creativity in ethics, politics, and aesthetics.
– Romanticism influenced critical evaluations in painting, fashion, and music, with a focus on the importance of a close connection with nature for human well-being.
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjectivity, imagination, and appreciation of nature in society and culture during the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
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Romanticists rejected the social conventions of the time in favor of a moral outlook known as individualism. They argued that passion and intuition were crucial to understanding the world, and that beauty is more than merely an affair of form, but rather something that evokes a strong emotional response. With this philosophical foundation, the Romanticists elevated a number of key themes to which they were deeply committed: a reverence for nature and the supernatural, an idealization of the past as a nobler era, a fascination with the exotic and the mysterious, and a celebration of the heroic and the sublime.
The Romanticist movement had a particular fondness for the Middle Ages, which to them represented an era of chivalry, heroism, and a more organic relationship between humans and their environment. This idealization contrasted sharply with the values of their contemporary industrial society, which they considered alienating for its economic materialism and environmental degradation. The movement's illustration of the Middle Ages was a key theme in debates, with allegations that Romanticist portrayals often overlooked the downsides of medieval life.
The consensus is that Romanticism peaked from 1800 until 1850. However, a "Late Romantic" period and "Neoromantic" revivals are also discussed. These extensions of the movement are characterized by a resistance to the increasingly experimental and abstract forms that culminated in modern art, and the deconstruction of traditional tonal harmony in music. They continued the Romantic ideal, stressing depth of emotion in art and music while showcasing technical mastery in a mature Romantic style. By the time of World War I though, the cultural and artistic climate had changed to such a degree that Romanticism essentially dispersed into subsequent movements. The final Late Romanticist figures to maintain the Romantic ideals died in the 1940s. Though they were still widely respected, they were seen as anachronisms at that point.
Romanticism was a complex movement, with a variety of viewpoints that permeated Western civilization across the globe. The movement and its opposing ideologies mutually shaped each other as time went on. After its end, Romantic thought and art exerted a sweeping influence on art and music, speculative fiction, philosophy, politics, and environmentalism that has endured into the present day.
The movement is the reference for the modern notion of "romanticization" and the act of "romanticizing" something.
