The Romanticism

The Romanticism is a great instance how the society can influence art. The youth of middle class got the opportunity to study and to read a lot in the early XIX century. They were inspired by ideas of self-development, self-improvement, and personal freedom of the outlook.  Self-improvement was higher than standards of the aristocratic society. The romanticism of young educated people has changed the class society of Europe. It became the beginning of the emergence of an educated "middle class" in Europe. The possibility of the freedom of the outlook initiated the appearance of the Romanticism in art history.

The Romanticism was a movement in the art, music, philosophy, and literature that originated in the late XVIII – early XIX centuries in Europe. Originally, this movement appeared in German philosophy and literature (the 1790s). And then Romanticism was spread in France, England, Russia, and other European countries (the 1820s).

The freedom of expression, greater attention to individual, unique human traits, naturalness, sincerity, and looseness were new criterions of art. Artist wanted to depict fears, love, and hatred in their works. They felt free to express their new views on life. The place of the artist in the society was changed. Restraint and humility were no longer accepted. Instead of that, there were strong emotions often reaching extremes.

Some followers of Romanticism turned to mysterious, enigmatic, and even horrible folk legends and fairy tales. Romanticism was often associated with democratic, national, and revolutionary movements. The source of inspiration of German Romantic writers was Kant and Fichte’s philosophy that put in the forefront the creative possibilities of the mind.

Allegory, mysticism, and fantasy of Romantic artist who thought outside the box found echoes in other directions of painting – symbolism, post-impressionism, the art of modernity. Their principles and ideas penetrated into the works of the 20th-century surrealists.