ROMANTICISM IN FRANCE: HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CHARACTERISTICS - ART - 2025

The Romanticism in France was a philosophical and artistic that developed in that nation during the nineteenth century and was inspired by a movement of English and German origin of the eighteenth century.

Its birth was in part a response to the rationality of the Enlightenment and the transformation of everyday life brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Its origin coincided with the period known as the French Restoration.

Victor Hugo, representative of French Romancicism

Although it was initially associated with literature and music, it soon spread to the other areas of Fine Arts. In these areas, it implied a break with the inherited rational and orderly patrimony.

Like other forms of Romantic art, French Romanticism defied the norms of Classicism and Philosophical Rationalism of previous centuries. The artists explored various themes and worked in varied styles.

In each of the styles developed, the importance did not reside in the theme or in the attachment to reality when presenting it. Rather, the emphasis was kept on the way it was felt by the author in exposing it.

Historical and social context

The French Revolution of 1789 created a torrent of romantic ideals throughout Europe. It was not a struggle for independence from an external imperial power, but an internal struggle within one of the great nations of Europe.

In this sense, the conflict was about competing social class and political ideologies, ideas that were truly threatening and revolutionary.

Due to this revolution, all the principles of romanticism suddenly became the basis of government. The clamor for brotherhood, equality, and freedom shook the foundations of the European monarchies.

Thus, common people came to believe in the "Rights of Man." The European world tried to understand the causes of the French Revolution and what were its major implications for humanity.

It inspired many romantic writers to think of history as an evolution toward a higher state. The French Revolution seemed to herald a rebirth of human possibility.

In the old way of thinking, history was a static pyramid. It was a hierarchy that flowed from God, to the kings, to the common people, and then to the natural world.

In the new way of thinking, the story flowed more freely. This was seen as a purposive, moral trip. It did not tell the story of kings and heroes, but of democracies, the will of the people, and the triumph of the individual.

Characteristics of French romanticism

Social topics

In French romanticism, the central theme of artistic works ceases to be the thinking man and history. The issues now touch children, women or the voice of the people.

These three elements were not taken into account in the previous intellectual dynamics.

Male sensitivity

Male identity underwent a transformation during the period of French Romanticism. The man stopped being stoic, and became a sensitive man who cries, shudders and is sensitive to the situations that surround him.

Spontaneity versus rationalism

This movement represented the triumph of the spontaneous and of nature as new ideals in the face of convention and history. It also meant the recovery of the tradition of the medieval world and its art, despised until then.

Change in the paradigm of beauty

Regarding romantic aesthetics, the concept of beauty that had been accepted since the Renaissance gave way to other values. Expressiveness, truth and the infinite were incorporated into aesthetic values.

This broadening of aestheticity gave rise to the picturesque, the realistic, and the sublime. It also gave space to its opposite, ugliness, which was considered more dynamic and varied than beauty.

Representative authors and works

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Victor Hugo was a prominent literary figure in the Romantic movement of the 19th century in France. He was also an eminent French novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist.

His most notable achievements include the immortal works The Contemplations (poems), Les Miserables (novel) and Our Lady of Paris (novel).

Other prominent titles include Odes and Ballads, The Orientals, The Autumn Leaves. The songs of twilight, The inner voices, The rays and the shadows, among a very extensive list of titles.

Alexandre Dumas, Jr. (1824-1895)

Dumas was a prominent French novelist and writer, author of the well-known romantic piece The Lady of the Camellias (1848). This novel was later adapted by Giuseppe Verdi in the opera La Traviata.

A member of the Legion of Honor (distinction awarded by France), he presents works such as Adventures of four women and a parrot, Cesarina, Doctor Servans, Antonina, Tristán or the son of crime, among many others.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Although this philosopher, writer and political theorist was born in Switzerland, his treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation.

His thoughts include the works Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts, La Nueva Eloísa, Emilio, The Social Contract, The Confessions (2 volumes) and Solitary Walker (published 4 years after his death).

Théodore Géricault (1791-1824)

Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault was a short-lived French painter. He only lived 32 years, and of these he dedicated ten to painting. However, his work is widely recognized.

He was one of the first representatives of French romanticism. His works include The Raft of the Medusa, Hunter Charging Officer, Wounded Cuirassier Coming Out of the Fire, The Artillery Train, and Free Horse Race.

Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835)

This French Romantic painter is remembered primarily for his historical paintings depicting significant events in Napoleon's military career.

From his cultural legacy we can mention Madame Pasteur, Bonaparte on the bridge of Arcole, Portrait of Christine Boyer, The battle of Nazareth, The first consul Bonaparte, Bonaparte visiting the plagued of Jaffa, among others.

Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (1767-1830)

This representative of French romanticism was a politician, journalist, philosopher and writer. I promote for France a political model similar to the English one: division of powers and constitutional monarchy.

Of his work, Adolfo, The Red Notebook, Cécile, La Guerra, El Cetro Criteriano and Course on constitutional politics stand out.

References

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