The Romanticism Art Movement

The Romantic Art Movement, commonly referred to as Romanticism, was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. Despite having stylistic origins dating back to centuries prior, it was not until the 18th Century that the style gathered momentum in the wake of the Neoclassic Art Movement. Romanticism was given a central role in painting but still served as a counterbalance to the rigidity of Neoclassic. The most outstanding characteristic of romanticism is that the artist’s work was not interfered with by rules, which allowed for artists to express their feelings through art. Romanticism put an emphasis on emotion and individualism and followed two most important principles: an emphasis on the spontaneous plain-air painting and a sense of goodness and humanity.

4. History and Development

Throughout the 20th Century, specific definitions of Romanticism had caused various debates, as some argued that it was just the beginning of a tradition of resistance to enlightenment rationalism, while others argued that it cannot be defined as an exact form or a subject but rather by the feelings it provokes in artists and art admirers. Romanticism began after the French Revolution that had shaken the country to its cores in 1789. In the 19th Century, artists started using emotional intuition in their work as well as their own perception.

3. Notable Artists and their Works

After the French Revolution, various artists took up the Romanticism style of art. One of the greatest of these was Joseph Mallord William Turner. He was a landscape painter and print-maker, and regarded as the person who first brought great new changes to the field of elevated landscape painting. Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was also a famous painter who studies painting and effects of color and shape of brushstrokes on paintings. He created famous artwork such as Clorinda Rescues Olindo and Sophronia. Caspar David Friedrich, a landscape painter who has done pieces like Moonrise Over the Sea and William Blake, a painter and a poet, had created art pieces on the Great Red Dragon depicting scenes from the Biblical Book of Revelations.

2. Decline and Subsequent Movements

During the second half of the 19th Century, the Realism art movement was introduced, which was in contrast to the exaggerated emotionalism that was encouraged by romanticism. The idea behind realism art movement was to portray the real situation with accuracy hence a decline in romanticism and nationalism became widespread.

1. Legacy

The emergence of the Romantic era in painting led to the development of various schools offering classes on painting, and a generation of romantic artists was created before its decline. Various methods of drawing and painting were encouraged, and this offered a chance to be creative and restrictions had been ruled out.