ROMANTICISM: CHARACTERISTICS, LITERATURE, MUSIC AND PAINTING - ART - 2025

The Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that developed since the end of the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century. The style was characterized by expressing strong emotions through artistic representations.

It was a movement that enhanced human emotions such as concern, horror, fear and love in the face of a sublime nature. In addition, it elevated the popular art, language and customs of the time.

The Wayfarer on the Sea of ​​Clouds, by the romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Caspar David Friedrich

Romanticism arose mainly in Europe as a reaction against the concepts proposed in the Enlightenment Age. Also, he was influenced by the sensitivity of the Middle Ages and its themes, trends and techniques.

Although the Enlightenment believed in reason and intellect, the new romantic era began to prioritize freedom and originality. These two values ​​governed the creations of the illustrated artists. The movement was strong in the field of visual arts, music, literature and science.

Origin

Reaction against the Enlightenment

As the Enlightenment movement and Neoclassicism gradually weakened, a new attitude developed in Europe that reached its peak at the end of the 18th century. Ideas that exalted reason and intellect, present in the Enlightenment, lost influence.

The Romantic movement emerged as a reaction against the radical rationalism of the Enlightenment era; it was based on the rejection of order, calm, harmony, balance and the social and political norms of the aristocracy that represented Neoclassicism.

Romanticism was an inevitable reaction to enlightened rationalism. The main idea that Romanticism opposed was reason-guided thinking, mainly expounded by Immanuel Kant. Society began to create a new tendency towards the sensitive.

Romantic artistic and literary works became more enduringly attractive by appealing to emotion, love, and sentimentality. Emotion became a much stronger and deeper concept than the intellect, reason or will of the enlightened.

Influence of the medieval period

Romanticism was influenced by the theory of evolution and uniformism that held that "the past is the key to the present." For this reason, the early romantics looked longingly at the sensitivity of the Middle Ages and the elements of art that were perceived in the medieval period.

In fact, the word "romantic" comes from the term "romance", which consists of heroic prose or narrative that originated in the Middle Ages.

The Romantic movement was characterized by a devotion to medieval values ​​as an escape attempt against population growth and industrialism.

Influence of the French Revolution

The initial period of the Romantic era developed into a time of war, with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. These wars, along with the political and social upheaval of the time, served as the background for the rise of Romanticism.

The fundamental values ​​of the French Revolution, such as freedom and equality, were key to promoting the creation of the Romantic movement. With the French Revolution, the first romantics defended the revaluation of the individual and the elimination of enlightened despotism.

In addition, the conflicts of the revolution served as a source of inspiration to address issues that society began to consider more relevant.

Rise of the Industrial Revolution

With the development of the Industrial Revolution, a bourgeois class was born that managed to lay the foundations of liberalism. Likewise, large industries and the growth of the proletariat emerged.

The consolidation of new economic systems caused tensions within the different social classes that emerged at the time.

The rise of liberalism, new economic and individual freedoms, and the vindication of the working class created ideals that inspired the passionate romantics of the time.

characteristics

Exaltation of feeling

The nature of Romanticism was based on the importance of the free expression of the artist's feelings. Unlike the previous artistic movement -based on precise rules and canons-, for the romantics "emotion and feeling were their law."

Romantic artistic expressions had to have an overflow of spontaneous feelings to be classified as art. For this, it was considered that the content of the discipline should come from the artist's imagination with the least possible interference from pre-established rules.

The romantic artist was carried away by inspiration and imagination and not by rules or technique. The romantic exalted the beautiful, the ideal and the individual feelings of each artist.

Expression of melancholy and terror

Romantic artists took refuge in themselves, having to isolate themselves and go to solitude to create their works. Furthermore, the organizing principle is the individual or the Self, which made it a deeply introspective movement.

Among the common themes of Romanticism were: pain, melancholy and disappointment. The romantics felt victims of the time in which they lived; For this reason, they decided to express their pain through artistic expressions. In fact, the term "romantic" was directly associated with melancholy and love.

The romantics were attracted to medieval and especially Gothic art. They also felt a great attraction for the dark, the storms, the ruins, and in general, for the dark.

Importance of freedom and rebellion

In opposition to Neoclassicism, Romanticism highlighted freedom as a rebellion against established rules. Freedom was the ideal and the beginning of the romantic movement.

For romantic artists, freedom was an art form capable of rejecting the tyranny and absolutism of the rules. The romantic must not accept laws of any authority; He must be free to exercise his art by any means of expression.

Creativity should be above the imitation of the old. Each artist had to show the characteristics that made him unique and original.

The desire for freedom resulted in the creation of rebellious and adventurous characters, who did not accept the rules or the preset art canons.

Dramatic nature

Neoclassicists provided an orderly, sweet, and ideal view of nature. For the romantic artist, nature had to express itself in a dramatic, harsh way, without proportions and with a mostly nocturnal setting.

Nature is often identified with the artist's state of mind. Generally, his feelings were melancholic, gloomy, and turbulent.

Literature

characteristics

Romantic literature was represented as a tale or ballad of chivalric adventures whose emphasis was on heroism, the exotic, and the mysterious, as opposed to the gracefulness of classical literature. The literary expressions were unsophisticated, but openly emotional and passionate.

During the romantic era, literature relieved the importance of the individual, so the autobiographies written by the literary men of the time began to be seen. In addition, new genres emerged such as the historical novel, the gothic, and the horror novel.

Poetry freed itself from neoclassical mandates and mythological themes and emphasized emotions, dreams, and the conventions of societies.

Neoclassical didactic genres were replaced by lyrical and dramatic genres, without respecting the rules that Aristotle once raised.

A group of recognized literary men constituted a new stage of Romanticism in Great Britain. This new stage was marked by the acceleration of culture; they generated a new attraction for popular poetry, dance, folklore, and medieval elements that had previously been ignored.

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was an English novelist and author of the renowned novel entitled Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. She is considered one of the most prominent figures of the 19th century English Romantic movement.

Frankenstein became one of the most important works of the Romantic movement and influenced other authors of the time. Mary Shelley became the only dramatic fiction writer among her contemporary peers, standing out in a male-dominated medium.

At first, his work was underestimated by critics; However, little by little she gained fame and renown until she became one of the best writers of the English language of the 19th century.

Mary Shelley used techniques from different genres of the novel; the historical style of Walter Scott (one of the first romantics) and the Gothic novel, closely related to the horror genre.

Perkin Warbeck is one of Shelley's best known historical novels. Through the work the author offers a feminine alternative to masculine political power, in addition to representing the values ​​of friendship and simplicity.

He also dedicated himself to writing other literary genres such as short stories, essays and biographies. Shelley was an avant-garde who faced the context of a time when women did not enjoy the same opportunities as men.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein was a Gothic novel published in 1818 and written by the renowned English writer Mary Shelley. It is considered one of the most enduring works of fiction of the 19th century and of the romantic movement in general. The story has been adapted to film, television, and theater countless times.

Like almost all the novels of this movement, it has an intense theme, full of drama and terror. Instead of focusing on the twists and the plot, it focuses on the mental and moral struggles of the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein.

Source: pixabay.com

The intention of the British author was to capture a political Romanticism that criticized the individualism and self-centeredness of traditional Romanticism, without removing the characteristic elements of the movement.

This work has been considered the first history of the science fiction genre. Although the literary of the time had already created fantasy stories, Frankenstein approached modern subjects (for the time) with scientific experiments.

Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a monstrous creature as part of an experiment. The monster was created from corpse parts for the purpose of bringing it to life.

The story is based on the journey that the creature takes and the situations of emotional pain it faces.

Music

characteristics

Romantic music was marked by an emphasis on originality, individuality, emotional and personal expression, and freedom.

The composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert had moved beyond the classical period by concentrating on an intensely personal feeling. Both are considered to be one of the most outstanding romantic composers of the 19th century.

For romantic musicians, dramatic expressiveness in music was synonymous with perfection. In addition, they adapted their compositions with new elements such as a wide instrumental repertoire and with the incorporation of background operas.

New musical forms were created, among which the lied stands out, a lyrical song whose lyrics are a poem sung by a soloist and generally accompanied by an instrument. This technique was typical of Romanticism, but its use spanned another century.

They began to see the prelude and the mazurka, musical compositions accompanied by dances. The romantic spirit was inspired by poetic texts, legends and popular tales.

Incidental music is another of the distinctive characteristics of Romanticism; that is, many romantic compositions were accompaniments to plays, films, and other artistic expressions.

The main composers of the first phase of the Romantic period were: Héctor Berlioz, Frédéric Chopin, Félix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt. These composers brought orchestral instruments to a much higher limit of expressiveness than in earlier periods.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and artistic figure in the transitional period between the classical and the romantic ages. Once consolidated as a musician, he became completely attached to the romantic style.

He is currently considered the best composer in musical history; no musician is said to have managed to surpass his feats.

Beethoven's work as a composer was divided into three periods: the first, between 1794 and 1800, was characterized by using a technique with traditional sounds from the 18th century.

The second period, between 1801 and 1814, was marked by a greater use of improvisation, in keeping with other composers of the time.

Source: pixabay.com

The third period comprised between 1814 and 1827. It featured great harmony and different and innovative musical textures. His most recognized compositions include: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, written in 1808, Symphony No. 7 from 1813 and Symphony No. 9 in D minor from 1824.

Beethoven gradually began to suffer from deafness; the first symptoms appeared in the early 1800s. Shortly after, he made known to the public his difficulty hearing sounds at short distances. However, hearing loss did not prevent him from continuing to compose music.

Symphony No. 9

The Symphony No. 9 in D minor was Ludwig van Beethoven's last symphony, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first heard in Vienna on May 7, 1824.

It is one of the best known works in musical history and considered the best piece by Beethoven. It is listed as the greatest composition of Western music of all time.

Due to his deafness, he may never have heard a single note of Symphony No. 9, like his latest compositions. This piece was considered as an example of rejection of rigorous rationalism. It accentuates the values ​​of freedom and the sentimentality typical of Romanticism.

Painting

characteristics

Romantic painting was characterized by including in its works images of landscapes, villages and ruins covered with vegetation. In the last decade of the 18th century, many artists began to disagree both on decoration and with the classical and mythological themes of the previous art movement.

A large number of artists began to prefer strange, extravagant and dark themes with strong contrasts of light and shadow. Landscape painting emerged with the works of JMW Turner and John Constable, who emphasized the use of color to portray natural and dynamic compositions.

Wars used to be constantly depicted in Romantic painting. They were characterized by their dramatic images, full of suffering and individual heroism.

Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix was a French painter known for being the greatest artist of the Romantic movement. His ideas were influential in the development of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting.

His inspiration came mainly from historical events that involved a certain drama and from themes related to literature. He drew themes by Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, and well-known romantic poets of the time.

In 1832, he paid a visit to Morocco. The trip provided him with a variety of ideas for exotic subjects. The French painter stood out for his free and expressive brushstrokes in his compositions. In addition, he used colors that evoked sensuality and adventure.

Freedom guiding the people

Liberty Leading the People was a composition made by Eugène Delacroix in 1830 to commemorate the July Revolution that had just brought Louis Philippe to the throne of France. This composition was not drawn from a real event; rather, it was an allegory representing the revolution.

This canvas is considered the most popular piece of all Delacroix's paintings. It represents a change in his style, being calmer, but preserving the elements of animation and greatness popular in Romanticism.

Eugène Delacroix

The woman with the naked back represents the freedom exhibited in the romantic style. In addition, she holds the flag of France, inviting the French people to fight until victory.

References

1. Romanticism, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from Wikipedia.org
2. Romanticism, editors of New World Encyclopedia, (nd). Taken from newworldencyclopedia.org
3. Romanticism, editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com '
4. Romanticism in literature, Crystal Harlan, (2018). Taken from aboutespanol.com
5. The origino of romanticism and Its importance in the art movement, Portal Spoken Vision, (nd). Taken from spokenvision.com
6. Romanticism, Portal The Art Story, (nd). Taken from theartstory.org
7. Ludwig van Beethoven, Julian Medforth Budden and Raymond L. Knapp, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
8. Eugène Delacroix, René Huyghe, (nd). Taken from britannica.com.