Preferences and Perspective - The Romantic Era
Preferences and Perspective - The Romantic Era
The two styles I chose for this assignment and the Romantic Style and the Realist Style. The Romantic movement gave way to Realism. Romantic style art focuses on the spiritual side of a theme. This style is very imaginative and has a lot of fantasy aspects to it. Realist style does not focus on exaggerated emotions and the dark drama of the romantic movement. This art style shows real life people such as laborers and regular people doing work or other activities.
Romantic Style -
Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich is known for his allegorical landscapes paintings. He was a part of the Germanic Romantic movement. When he painted, he wanted the contemplation of nature and he wanted his work to convey the spiritual experiences of life. His artwork has a sublime feeling to them.
This painting is called Moonrise over the Sea and it was created in 1822. The beautiful colors chosen for this piece shows the contrast of the light and then the shade. These colors that were choses are complementary colors. The half covered moon creates the illusion of light with how it is painted. It makes the water look like it is reflecting light off of it. It gives it a magical play of light. It is shown that the three people sitting on the rock are in awe with the nature surrounding them. The moon is the main symbol for this painting. It represents the meaning of hope. The two sailing ships chase this symbol.
I do not think I would own something like this but I do love this piece. I love the colors that were chosen to create this piece. The light that is created off of the colors make this painting come to life. It makes it look like a photograph. The emotion and the expressions in his pieces are shown very well in each of his pieces .
Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya is known for emphasis on imagination and emotions in his artwork. He was the court painter for the Spanish aristocracy. Majority of his artwork comes from his time with the aristocracy. All of his creation came from the heart, he did not look at the philosophy side of creating artwork. When he first started out painting it was very bright and high-spirited, but later on it became dark and somewhat haunting. This was due to a tragic event in his life that left him deaf. He created blacking paintings and he wanted them to haunt.
This painting above is called The Second of May and it was created in 1808. The painting below is called The Third of May, also created in 1808.
The two paintings showcased death and insanity. The first painting shows the rebellions and the French occupation fighting. This is the uprising against the Mamelukes of the French Imperial Guard. They were sent to disburse the rioting Spanish citizens. Goya painted this to show the drama of this chaos happening in a public square. The result of the first painting is captured in the second painting. The Third of May painting shows the results of rebellion. The rebellion members were captured and sentenced to execution. Goya captures this image very well in both of these paintings. His paintings during and after this time reflected insanity, political corruption, witches and other dark themes. It represented the fear he felt for his physical and psychological health. He was also nervous for his country’s fate as well.
I would not own a piece like this, it is too dark for me. I do love the attention to detail to the horrors of war that he created in the two paintings above. His artwork is characterized by flowing lines and many different gestures and expressions. His beliefs are well portrayed in each piece he created.
Realist Style -
Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet is one of the most renowned Realist artists’ during his time period. He was a French painter during the Realist movement. When he first started painting, he focused on the style of literature influences. He soon switched over to painting more realistic ideas. He created many self portraits. He wanted to show and or portray things that happen from day to day events. He mainly painted from personal experiences.
The painting is a self portrait of Courbet and a black dog, this was created in 1841. This was just one of many self portraits he created when he was traveling. The landscape is captured beautifully and every detail is done amazingly. The attention to detail is shown very well.
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American painter in the nineteenth century. He began by creating commercial printmakings. Later in his life his paintings revolved around privacy and silence, these were his main themes to his painting. He compares the life of a human to the timelessness of nature. He loved to paint the drama of the sea.
The painting above is called The Gulf Stream created in 1899. The painting shows the struggles of a fishing boat battling the ocean's rough waves. The boat no longer has a proper sailing item to safely make it back to shore. He is threatened by sharks and the rough waves. Winslow wanted this painting to show the sense of mortality and vulnerability. He wanted to show the fragileness of human life to the dominance of our nature. For these two realist paintings that I have chosen, they both show amazing detail of real life situations.
Resources -
https://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-Goya
https://masterpiecesociety.com/francisco-goya-spanish-romantic-painter/
https://www.gustave-courbet.com
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm
Hey Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI like the themes you picked because they are pretty straight forward and easy to navigate. My favorite style out of the two is the Romantic Style. There are a lot more feelings and emotions in those three than in the Realist paintings, which I enjoy seeing. The first painting is probably my favorite because of all the contrast in color and the way the shading is done to make it look like to light in the painting is from the moon, as you said. Another thing you mentioned, about the last Romantic art piece is the attention to detail. There is a lot going on in that painting and the artist did a great job at making sure he didn't miss anything so every time yo0u look you see something new or have a new perspective on the painting.
Hi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the paintings you chose. Thank you for sharing with great detail. I would be fascinated if I seen these in a museum! I like the realist style paintings. As you mention, they don’t show as much emotion. But I like to think of the stories behind the realist paintings. I especially like the one of the boat and big waves.
Hi Taylor,
ReplyDeleteMy favorite style of art is Realism, I just love how everything is so raw and meaningful. The realists see something and they paint exactly that with no exceptions, their work is so deep usually. I do also like the romantic style art as well, I think it is very beautiful. Moonrise over the Sea really does look like a photograph, it is amazing how artists can do that.
Hi! I enjoyed the two themes and the different paintings you chose. I think out of the two I prefer the realism style. I like this one more because when the artist paints it, it feels like you are there in the moment looking at the scene. I think the paintings you chose really captured the differences in the two styles, and your description of the two styles.
ReplyDelete