The German Romanticism

In my previous post, I wrote about the Romanticism as a whole movement. And now I’m going to look closer at this movement in different countries. As this movement arose in Germany, it will be my first country. The significant features of German Romanticism are its philosophy and abstractness.

German Romanticism usually is divided into early and late periods. The early period originated in the university town of Jena in 1796. Members of the emerging Romanticism established the school of Jena Romanticism. They proclaimed the right for artists to freedom and imagination. They believed that artistic people are special creatures with a gift of understanding the world in a special way. They considered artistic creativity is equal to the act of divine creation. The most significant feature of the early Romanticism is the connection between philosophy and poetry.

The late Romanticism was less theoretical and philosophical. This period began in about 1805. The late period influenced all fields of art: poetry, music, painting. But this period was much more conservative than the previous period. Traditional values such as government, nation, and religion were in the center of attention. Artists of this period wanted to create in accord with the national spirit. As a result, the interest toward German history and culture increased.

The movement of romanticism was completely stepped back from following the canons in art. Artists didn’t want to follow ideals of the Classicism. They fought for freedom of personality, the disclosure of the inner world, and appearance of the artist. The art of the Romanticism is based on images of ordinary people. But artist tried to penetrate into the subtle mental, inner life of their models. Paintings in the Romanticism were contemplative and highly spiritualized. There was a sense of eternity and infinity of being and abiding sadness from the consciousness of his unknowable mysteries.

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