Landscape in romanticism is one of the genres in the art of romanticism. The painting of romanticism, which flourished in the early 19th century, rejected the role that art played during the Enlightenment, where the classic canons were first extolled. Her aesthetics turned her attention to the processes of experience and perception of the artist, instead of evaluating only the finished art form or its content. This approach played a significant role in the formation of romantic painting. In the works of romantic artists, the concepts of artistic form and content have become integral parts of the artistic image, and examples of paintings depicting landscapes most clearly demonstrate this feature of romantic aesthetics. These works express a special understanding of the idea of nature, as a whole living organism, divine, capable of bringing down rage on a person, creating chaos or, on the contrary, presenting a gift, which is clearly demonstrated in the painting of romantic artists. The paint that the artist puts becomes for him inseparable from what it means, since not only the real image of any tree or bush is transferred to the canvas, but the combined image of infinite nature, the Platonic eidos. Matter and spirit are inextricably linked in the understanding of the romantic artist.
Content
Phenomena of nature and art in a romantic landscape
In romantic aesthetics, the landscape has gained great importance. In general, appeal to nature is one of the common features of romanticism. For philosophers of that time, nature and a work of art were of particular interest, as a rule, these two ideas were compared with the body, as an integral unity of interconnected parts capable of independent organization, in the sense of having expediency. In this regard, the romantics fully shared the statement of I. Kant that art is expedient, but it does not have an ultimate expressed purpose. But the common understanding of nature and art among romantics is much deeper. In the philosophy of F. Schelling, nature is reflected in the form of one of the parts of the absolute fullness of the universe formed in God. And the gifted artist, in his art, is capable of instinctively introducing into the work a certain infinity, a part of the absolute that cannot be comprehended [1] . F. Schlegel is characterized by a similar understanding of nature, which, like the whole universe, represents a certain idea of endless poetry, like a Platonic eidos, which is the basis of the universe, and the result of the artist’s creativity, in turn, symbolizes the essence of higher poetic beauty [2] . Wakenroder defines nature as the language in which God speaks, and he calls art a language similar to the language of nature, through which the creator reveals to the viewer the “treasures of the human spirit” [3] , bearing in mind that art helps to reveal the divine in man. Wakenroder’s views were close to Emerson , who understood nature as a direct symbol of spirit. For him, nature is the language through which God speaks to man. However, unlike Wakenroder, Emerson saw the achievement of the experience of the divine meaning, or in other words, the state of the “super soul” [4] , not in art, but only in unity with nature.
Artist and romantic landscape
Romantic artists embodied their sensual experiences on canvas through the prism of their souls. The image of nature in them finds its expression in different forms, materials, scales, techniques, composition, color and pattern, because in romanticism there is no and cannot be a ready-made creative formula or canon. In the works of the British artist William Turner, the landscape is extremely poetic - he does not seek to accurately represent reality, revealing to the viewer a reflection of our world, which, by means of expressive means, does not just live its life, but moves inside the picture. The works of the German artist Caspar David Friedrich look more naturalistic than Turner's paintings, but they also cannot be called simply imprints of reality, since the nature depicted by the artist has an emphasized symbolic character. Frederick did not depict nature from nature, many natural phenomena that can be seen in his works, the artist himself never watched live. In the character of the drawing, composition, color, Frederick creates a special melancholic and mystical atmosphere in his landscapes. Another example is the work of the American artist Frederick Edwin Church , whose work opens the viewer to the vast expanses of American virgin nature. His landscapes are filled with peace of mind - they do not have the melancholy of Frederick, nor the dynamics of Turner. Church depicts naturalistically designed landscapes written off from real places. Romantic in his paintings is expressed through symbols that are primarily associated with the philosophy of Emerson, who embodied the paradise gardens of Eden in American nature.
Examples of romantic landscapes
William Turner
Sunrise with sea monsters . 1845
Canvas, oil. 91.5x122 cm.
Tate Gallery . LondonCaspar David Friedrich
Arctic Ocean. 1822-1824
Canvas, oil. 96.7x126.9 cm
National Gallery of Berlin . BerlinFrederick Edwin Church
The heart of the Andes. 1859
Canvas, oil. 167.9x302.9 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art , New YorkJohn constable
Cart for hay . 1821
Canvas, oil. 82 × 130 cm.
London National Gallery , LondonTheodore Gericault
Evening: Landscape with an aqueduct. 1818
Canvas, oil. 250.2x219.7 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art , New YorkThomas Cole
Oxbow 1836
Canvas, oil. 130.8x193 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
Notes
- ↑ Schelling F.V.Y. Philosophy of Art - M.: Thought, 1966. Pages. 67-90
- ↑ Schlegel F. Aesthetics. Philosophy. Criticism. Volume One - M.: Art, 1983. 33
- ↑ Wakenroder B.-G. Fantasies of Art - M .: Art. 1977. Page 68
- ↑ Over-soul, from Essays: First Series, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841
Literature
- Emerson R. Over-soul // Essays: First Series, New York, 1841. URL = < http://emersoncentral.com/texts/essays-first-series/the-over-soul/ >
- Gorodeisky K. 19th Century Romantic Aesthetics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Jun 14, 2016. URL = < https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetics-19th-romantic/ >
- Bychkov V.V. Aesthetics - M.: Academic Project, 2011. - 452 p. - ISBN 978-5-8291-1267-7 .
- Wakenroder B.-G. Fantasies of Art - M .: Art, 1977. - 263 p.
- Nikolyukin A. N. American romanticism and modernity. - M .: Nauka, 1968 .-- 411 p.
- Novalis Fragments - St. Petersburg: Vladimir Dal, 2014 .-- 319 p. - ISBN 978-5-93615-130-9
- Schelling F.V.Y. Philosophy of Art - M.: Thought, 1966. - 495 p.
- Schlegel F. Aesthetics. Philosophy. Criticism. In two volumes - M .: Art, 1983.