Romanticism in art. History and development of romanticism in painting

The beginning of the XIX century - the time of cultural and spiritual upsurge in Russia. If in economic and socio-political development Russia lagged behind the advanced European states, then in cultural achievements it not only kept pace with them, but often outstripped them. The development of Russian culture in the first half of the 19th century was based on the transformations of the previous time. The penetration of elements of capitalist relations into the economy increased the need for literate and educated people. Cities became the main cultural centers.

New social strata were drawn into social processes. Culture developed against the background of the ever-increasing national self-consciousness of the Russian people and, in this regard, had a pronounced national character. Significant influence on literature, theater, music, visual arts had Patriotic War of 1812 which to an unprecedented degree accelerated the growth of the national self-consciousness of the Russian people, its consolidation. There was a rapprochement with the Russian people of other peoples of Russia.

The beginning of the 19th century is rightly called the golden age of Russian painting. It was then that Russian artists reached the level of skill that put their works on a par with the best examples of European art.

Three names open Russian painting of the 19th century - Kiprensky , Tropinin , Venetsianov. Everyone has a different origin: an illegitimate landowner, a serf and a descendant of a merchant. Everyone has their own creative aspiration - a romantic, a realist and a "village lyricist".

Despite his early passion for historical painting, Kiprensky is known primarily as an outstanding portrait painter. We can say that at the beginning of the XIX century. he became the first Russian portrait painter. The old masters, who became famous in the 18th century, could no longer compete with him: Rokotov died in 1808, Levitsky, who outlived him by 14 years, no longer painted due to eye disease, and Borovikovsky, who did not live a few months before the uprising Decembrists, worked very little.

Kiprensky was lucky enough to become an artistic chronicler of his time. "History in faces" can be considered his portraits, which depict many participants in those historical events, of which he was a contemporary: the heroes of the war of 1812, representatives of the Decembrist movement. The technique of pencil drawing came in handy, the training of which was given serious attention at the Academy of Arts. Kiprensky created, in essence, a new genre - a pictorial portrait.

Kiprensky created many portraits of figures of Russian culture, and, of course, the most famous among them is Pushkin's. It was commissioned Delviga, a lyceum friend of the poet, in 1827. Contemporaries noted the amazing similarity of the portrait with the original. The image of the poet is freed by the artist from everyday features that are inherent in the portrait of Pushkin by Tropinin, painted in the same year. Alexander Sergeevich is captured by the artist at the moment of inspiration, when he was visited by a poetic muse.

Death overtook the artist during his second trip to Italy. In recent years, much has not gone well with the famous painter. The creative slump began. Shortly before his death, his life was overshadowed by a tragic event: according to contemporaries, the artist was falsely accused of murder and was afraid to leave the house. Even marrying his Italian pupil did not brighten up his last days.

Few people mourned the Russian painter who died in a foreign land. Among the few who truly understood what kind of master the national culture had lost was the artist Alexander Ivanov, who was in Italy at that time. In those sad days, he wrote: Kiprensky "was the first to make the Russian name known in Europe."

Tropinin entered the history of Russian art as an outstanding portrait painter. He said: "A portrait of a person is painted for the memory of people close to him, who love him." According to contemporaries, Tropinin painted about 3,000 portraits. Whether this is so is hard to say. In one of the books about the artist, there is a list of 212 precisely identified faces that Tropinin portrayed. He also has many works called "Portrait of an Unknown (Unknown)". Tropinin was posed by state dignitaries, nobles, warriors, businessmen, petty officials, serfs, intellectuals, and figures of Russian culture. Among them: historian Karamzin, writer Zagoskin, art critic Odoevsky, painters Bryullov and Aivazovsky, sculptor Vitali, architect Gilardi, composer Alyabyev, actors Shchepkin and Mo-chalov, playwright Sukhovo-Kobylin.

One of Tropinin's best works is a portrait of his son. I must say that one of the "discoveries" of Russian art of the XIX century. there was a portrait of a child. In the Middle Ages, the child was viewed as a small adult who had not yet grown up. Children were even dressed in outfits that were no different from adults: in the middle of the 18th century. girls wore tight corsets and wide skirts with fijma. Only at the beginning of the XIX century. the child was seen as a child. Artists were among the first to do this. There is a lot of simplicity and naturalness in the portrait of Tropinin. The boy is not posing. Interested in something, he turned around for a moment: his mouth was parted, his eyes were shining. The appearance of the child is surprisingly charming and poetic. Golden tousled hair, an open, childishly plump face, a lively look of intelligent eyes. One can feel with what love the artist painted the portrait of his son.

Tropinin painted self-portraits twice. On a later one, dated 1846, the artist is 70 years old. He depicted himself with a palette and brushes in his hands, leaning on a mastabl - a special stick used by painters. Behind him is the majestic panorama of the Kremlin. In his younger years, Tropinin possessed heroic strength and good spirits. Judging by the self-portrait, he retained the strength of his body even in old age. A rounded face with glasses radiates good nature. The artist died 10 years later, but his image remained in the memory of his descendants - a great, kind man who enriched Russian art with his talent.

Venetsianov discovered the peasant theme in Russian painting. He was the first among Russian artists to show the beauty of his native nature on his canvases. The landscape genre was not favored at the Academy of Arts. He occupied the penultimate place in importance, leaving behind even more despicable - everyday. Only a few masters painted nature, preferring Italian or imaginary landscapes.

In many of Venetsianov's works, nature and man are inseparable. They are connected as closely as a peasant with the land, its gifts. His most famous works - "Haymaking", "On the arable land. Spring", "On the harvest. Summer" - the artist creates in the 20s. It was the peak of his creativity. No one in Russian art has been able to show the peasant life and work of the peasants with such love and so poetically as Venetsianov. In the painting "On the arable land. Spring" a woman is harrowing a field. This hard, exhausting work looks sublime on Venetsianov's canvas: a peasant woman in an elegant sundress and kokoshnik. With a beautiful face and flexible body, she resembles an ancient goddess. Leading by the bridle two obedient horses harnessed to a harrow, she does not walk, but seems to hover over the field. Life around flows calmly, measuredly, peacefully. Rare trees turn green, white clouds float across the sky, the field seems endless, on the edge of which sits a baby waiting for its mother.

The painting "In the Harvest. Summer" seems to continue the previous one. The harvest is ripe, the fields are ears of golden stubble - it's harvest time. In the foreground, putting aside the sickle, a peasant woman is breastfeeding a child. The sky, the field, the people working on it are inseparable for the artist. But still, the main subject of his attention is always a person.

Venetsianov created a whole gallery of portraits of peasants. This was new for Russian painting. In the XVIII century. people from the people, and even more so serfs, were of little interest to artists. According to art historians, Venetsianov was the first in the history of Russian painting to "capture and recreate the Russian folk type." "Reapers", "Girl with cornflowers", "Girl with a calf", "Sleeping shepherd" are wonderful images of peasants immortalized by Venetsianov. A special place in the artist's work was occupied by portraits of peasant children. How good is "Zakharka" - a big-eyed, snub-nosed, big-lipped boy with an ax on his shoulder! Zakharka seems to personify an energetic peasant nature, accustomed to work from childhood.

Alexey Gavrilovich left a good memory of himself not only as an artist, but also as an outstanding teacher. During one of his visits to St. Petersburg, he took a novice artist as a student, then another, a third ... Thus, an entire art school arose, which entered the history of art under the name Venetian. For a quarter of a century, about 70 talented young men have passed through it. Venetsianov tried to redeem serf artists from captivity and was very worried if this did not work out. The most talented of his students - Grigory Soroka - never got his freedom from his landowner. He lived to see the abolition of serfdom, but, driven to despair by the omnipotence of the former owner, committed suicide.

Many of Venetsianov's students lived in his house on full pay. They comprehended the secrets of Venetian painting: firm adherence to the laws of perspective, close attention to nature. Among his pupils there were many talented masters who left a noticeable mark in Russian art: Grigory Soroka, Alexei Tyranov, Alexander Alekseev, Nikifor Krylov. "Venetianians" - lovingly called his pets.

Thus, it can be argued that in the first third of the 19th century there was a rapid rise in the cultural development of Russia and this time is called the golden age of Russian painting.

Russian artists have reached a level of skill that puts their works on a par with the best examples of European art.

The glorification of the feat of the people, the idea of ​​their spiritual awakening, the denunciation of the plagues of feudal Russia - these are the main themes of the fine arts of the 19th century.

In portraiture, the features of romanticism - the independence of the human personality, its individuality, the freedom to express feelings - are especially distinct.

Many portraits of figures of Russian culture, a children's portrait have been created. The peasant theme, the landscape, which showed the beauty of native nature, comes into fashion.

Romanticism(fr. romanticism) - a phenomenon of European culture in the XVIII-XIX centuries, which is a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific and technological progress stimulated by it; ideological and artistic direction in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of the 19th century. It is characterized by the assertion of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. It spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, everything that was strange, fantastic, picturesque, and existing in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism became the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism and the Enlightenment.

Romanticism succeeds the Age of Enlightenment and coincides with the industrial revolution, marked by the appearance of the steam engine, the steam locomotive, the steamboat, photography, and factory outskirts. If the Enlightenment is characterized by the cult of reason and civilization based on its principles, then romanticism affirms the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man. It was in the era of romanticism that the phenomena of tourism, mountaineering and picnics were formed, designed to restore the unity of man and nature. The image of the “noble savage”, armed with “folk wisdom” and not spoiled by civilization, is in demand. That is, the romanticists wanted to show an unusual person in unusual circumstances.

Romanticism first arose in Germany, among the writers and philosophers of the Jena school (W. G. Wackenroder, Ludwig Tieck, Novalis, the brothers F. and A. Schlegel). The philosophy of romanticism was systematized in the works of F. Schlegel and F. Schelling. In the further development of German romanticism, interest in fairy-tale and mythological motifs was distinguished, which was especially clearly expressed in the work of the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, Hoffmann. Heine, starting his work within the framework of romanticism, later subjected him to a critical revision.

England is largely due to German influence. In England, its first representatives are the poets of the Lake School, Wordsworth and Coleridge. They established the theoretical foundations of their direction, having familiarized themselves with the philosophy of Schelling and the views of the first German romantics during a trip to Germany. English romanticism is characterized by an interest in social problems: they oppose modern bourgeois society with old, pre-bourgeois relations, the glorification of nature, simple, natural feelings.

A prominent representative of English romanticism is Byron, who, according to Pushkin, “clothed in dull romanticism and hopeless selfishness”. His work is imbued with the pathos of struggle and protest against the modern world, the glorification of freedom and individualism.

Also, English romanticism includes the work of Shelley, John Keats, William Blake.

Romanticism also spread in other European countries, for example, in France (Chateaubriand, J. Stael, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Vigny, Prosper Merimee, George Sand), Italy (N. W. Foscolo, A. Manzoni, Leopardi) , Poland (Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki, Zygmunt Krasinski, Cyprian Norwid) and in the USA (Washington Irving, Fenimore Cooper, W. K. Bryant, Edgar Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Longfellow, Herman Melville).

Stendhal also considered himself a French romantic, but he meant by romanticism something different than most of his contemporaries. In the epigraph of the novel "Red and Black", he took the words "True, bitter truth", emphasizing his vocation for a realistic study of human characters and actions. The writer was addicted to romantic outstanding natures, for which he recognized the right to "go hunting for happiness." He sincerely believed that it depends only on the way of society whether a person can realize his eternal craving for well-being, given by nature itself.

It is usually believed that in Russia romanticism appears in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky (although some Russian poetic works of the 1790-1800s are often attributed to the pre-romantic movement that developed from sentimentalism). In Russian romanticism, freedom from classical conventions appears, a ballad, a romantic drama, is created. A new idea of ​​the essence and meaning of poetry is affirmed, which is recognized as an independent sphere of life, an expression of the highest, ideal aspirations of man; the old view, according to which poetry was an empty pastime, something completely serviceable, is no longer possible.

The early poetry of A. S. Pushkin also developed within the framework of romanticism. The poetry of M. Yu. Lermontov, the “Russian Byron”, can be considered the pinnacle of Russian romanticism. The philosophical lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev are both the completion and the overcoming of romanticism in Russia.

Literature of modernism, modern style.

The literature of the 20th century, in its stylistic and ideological diversity, is incomparable with the literature of the 19th century, where only three or four leading trends could be singled out. At the same time, modern literature has produced no more great talents than the literature of the last century. European fiction of the 20th century remains faithful to the classical traditions. At the turn of the two centuries, a galaxy of writers is noticeable, whose work has not yet expressed the aspirations and innovative searches of the 20th century: the English novelist John Galsworthy(1867-1933), who created social and everyday novels (the Forsyte Saga trilogy), German writers Thomas Mann (1875-1955), who wrote the philosophical novels The Magic Mountain (1924) and Doctor Faustus (1947), revealing moral, spiritual and intellectual quest of a European intellectual, and Heinrich Belle (1917-1985), who combined social criticism with elements of the grotesque and deep psychological analysis in his novels and stories, French Anatole France (1844-1924), who gave a satirical review of France at the end of the 19th century , Romain Rolland(1866-1944), who depicted the spiritual quest and throwing of a brilliant musician in the epic novel "Jean Christophe", etc.

At the same time, European literature was influenced by modernism, which is primarily manifested in poetry. Thus, the French poets P. Eluard (1895-1952) and L. Aragon (1897-1982) were the leading figures of surrealism. However, the most significant in the Art Nouveau style was not poetry, but prose - the novels of M. Proust ("In Search of Lost Time"), J. Joyce ("Ulysses"), f. Kafka ("Castle"). These novels were a response to the events of the First World War, which gave birth to a generation that received the name "lost" in literature. They analyze the spiritual, mental, pathological manifestations of a person. Common to them is the methodological technique - the use of the method of analysis "stream of consciousness" discovered by the French philosopher, representative of intuitionism and "philosophy of life" Henri Bergson (1859-1941), which consists in describing the continuous flow of thoughts, impressions and feelings of a person. He described human consciousness as a continuously changing creative reality, as a stream in which thinking is only a surface layer, subject to the needs of practice and social life. In its deepest layers, consciousness can be comprehended only by the effort of self-observation (introspection) and intuition. The basis of knowledge is pure perception, and matter and consciousness are phenomena reconstructed by the mind from the facts of direct experience. His main work, Creative Evolution, brought Bergson fame not only as a philosopher, but also as a writer (he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927). Bergson also showed himself in the diplomatic and pedagogical fields. They say that the recognition of Bergson's oratory talent, which conquered his compatriots with his magnificent French, in 1928 forced the French Parliament to specifically consider the issue of transferring his lectures from the assembly hall of the College de France, which did not accommodate everyone, to the building of the Paris Opera and stopping the movement for the duration of the lecture. along the surrounding streets.

Bergson's philosophy had a significant impact on the intellectual atmosphere of Europe, including literature. For many writers of the first half of the 20th century, the “stream of consciousness” turned from a philosophical method of cognition into a spectacular artistic device.

Philosophical ideas of Bergson formed the basis of the famous novel by the French writer Marcel Proust(1871-1922) "In Search of Lost Time" (in 14 volumes). The work, which is a cycle of novels, serves as an expression of his childhood memories, emerging from the subconscious. Recreating the past time of people, the subtlest overflows of feelings and moods, the material world, the writer saturates the narrative fabric of the work with bizarre associations and phenomena of involuntary memory. Proust's experience - the depiction of the inner life of a person as a "stream of consciousness" - was of great importance for many writers of the 20th century.

Prominent Irish writer, representative of modernist and postmodern prose James Joyce(1882-1941), relying on the Bergsonian technique, discovered a new way of writing, in which the art form takes the place of content, encoding ideological, psychological and other dimensions in itself. In the artistic work of Joyce, not only the "stream of consciousness" is used, but also parodies, stylizations, comic devices, mythological and symbolic layers of meanings. The analytical decomposition of language and text is accompanied by the decomposition of the human image, a new anthropology close to structuralist and characterized by the almost complete exclusion of social aspects. Inner speech as a form of being of a literary work entered the active circulation of writers of the 20th century.

Works of an outstanding Austrian writer Franz Kafka(1883-1924) did not arouse much interest among readers during his lifetime. Despite this, he is considered one of the most famous prose writers of the 20th century. In the novels "The Trial" (1915), "The Castle" (1922) and stories in a grotesque and parable form, he showed the tragic impotence of a person in his collision with the absurdity of the modern world. Kafka showed with amazing force the inability of people to mutual contacts, the impotence of the individual in front of complex mechanisms of power inaccessible to the human mind, showed the vain efforts that people-pawns made in order to protect themselves from pressure on them by forces alien to them. The analysis of "boundary situations" (situations of fear, despair, anguish, etc.) brings Kafka closer to the existentialists.

Close to him, but in a peculiar way to search for a new language and new poetic content, the Austrian poet and prose writer moved Rainer Maria Rilke(1875-1926), who created a cycle of melodic poems in line with the Symbolist and Impressionist tradition of the first decades of the 20th century. In them, the poet reflects on the existential problems of man, his tragic duality, the desire for mutual understanding and love.

The art of romanticism is formed in polemics with classicism. In the social aspect, the emergence of romanticism is associated with the Great French Revolution of the 18th century; it arises as a reaction of general enthusiasm about its beginning, but also as a deep disappointment in the capabilities of a person when it is defeated. Moreover, German romanticism was later considered a bloodless version of the French Revolution.

As an ideological and artistic movement, romanticism declares itself in the first half of the 19th century. It arises primarily as a literary trend - here the activity of romantics is high and successful. The music of that time is no less significant: vocals, instrumental music, musical theater (opera and ballet) of romanticism still form the basis of the repertoire today. However, in the visual and spatial arts, romanticism manifested itself less clearly both in the number of created works and in their level. Romantic painting reaches the level of masterpieces in Germany and France, the rest of Europe lags behind. It is not customary to talk about the architecture of romanticism. Only gardening art reveals some originality here, and even then the romantics develop here the idea of ​​an English landscape, or natural, park. There is also a place for some neo-gothic tendencies of romance saw their art in the series: gothic - baroque - romanticism. There is a lot of such neo-Gothic in the Slavic countries.

Fine art of romanticism

In the XVIII century. the term "romantic" meant "strange", "fantastic", "picturesque". It is easy to see that the words "romance", "roman" (knightly) are etymologically very close.

In the 19th century the term was interpreted as the name of a literary movement, opposite in its settings to classicism.

In the visual arts, romanticism manifested itself interestingly in painting and drawing, less clearly in sculpture. The most consistent school of romanticism developed in France, where there was a stubborn struggle against dogmatism and abstract rationalism in official art in the spirit of academic classicism. The founder of the romantic school of painting was Theodore Géricault (1791-1824). He studied with the masters of classicism, but, having retained from classicism the attraction to generalized heroized images, Gericault for the first time expressed in painting a sense of the conflict of the world, the desire for an expressive expression of significant events of our time. Already the first works of the artist reveal a high emotionality, the "nerve" of the era of the Napoleonic wars, in which there was a lot of bravado ("Officer of the horse rangers of the imperial guard, going on the attack", "Wounded cuirassier leaving the battlefield"). They are marked by a tragic attitude, a feeling of confusion. The heroes of classicism did not experience such feelings or did not express them publicly and did not aestheticize despondency, confusion, melancholy. The picturesque canvases of the Romantic artists are painted dynamically, the coloring is dominated by a dark tone, which is enlivened by intense color accents, impetuous impasto strokes.

Gericault creates an incredibly dynamic picture of "Running free horses in Rome." Here he excels in the persuasiveness of the transfer of movement of all previous artists. One of the main works of Gericault is the painting "The Raft of the Medusa". In it, he depicts real facts, but with such a power of generalization that contemporaries saw in it not the image of one particular shipwreck, but the whole of Europe in despair. And only a few, the most persistent people continue the struggle for survival. The artist shows a complex range of human feelings - from gloomy despair to a stormy explosion of hope. The dynamics of this canvas is determined by the diagonal of the composition, spectacular modeling of volumes, contrasting changes in light and shade.

Gericault managed to prove himself as a master of the portrait genre. Here he also acts as an innovator, defining the figurative specifics of the portrait genre. In the "Portrait of a twenty-year-old Delacroix" and in self-portraits, the idea of ​​a romantic artist as an independent creator, a bright, emotional personality is expressed. He laid the foundations for the romantic portrait, later one of the most successful romantic genres.

Gericault also joined the landscape. Traveling around England, he was struck by her appearance and paid tribute to her beauties, creating many landscape paintings, painted in both oil and watercolor. They are rich in color, subtle in observation, no stranger to social criticism. The artist called them "Large and small English suites". How typical for a romantic to call a pictorial cycle a musical term!

Unfortunately, Gericault's life was short, but he laid the foundation for a glorious tradition.

Since the 1820s became the head of romantic painters Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863). He experienced a strong influence of Gericault, with whom he was friendly from the student's bench. He studied the painting of old masters, especially Rubens. Traveled around England, was fascinated by the painting of Constable. Delacroix possessed a passionate temperament, powerful creative imagination and high efficiency. From the initial steps in the professional field, Delacroix resolutely follows the romantics. The first painting he exhibited was of Dante and Virgil in a boat crossing the Styx ("Dante's Boat"). The picture is full of tragedy, gloomy pathos. With the next canvas, "Massacre on Chios," he responded to real events related to the suffering of the Greeks from the Turkish yoke. Here he openly expressed his political position, taking the side of the Greeks in the conflict, with whom he sympathized, while the French government flirted with Turkey.

The painting caused both political and art criticism attacks, especially after Delacroix, influenced by Constable's work, rewrote the painting in lighter colors. In response to criticism, the artist creates the canvas "Greece on the ruins of Missolunga", in which he again refers to the burning theme of the struggle of Greece for liberation from the Turkish yoke. This painting by Delacroix is ​​more symbolic, a female figure with a raised hand in a gesture of either cursing the invaders, or in a call to fight, personifies the whole country. It seems to anticipate the image of Freedom in the upcoming, most famous work of the artist.

In search of new heroes, strong personalities, Delacroix often turns to the literary images of Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Scott: "Tasso in the asylum", "Death of Sardanapal", "Murder of the Bishop of Liege"; makes lithographs for "Faust", "Hamlet", expressing the subtlest shades of feelings of the characters, which earned Goethe's praise. Delacroix approaches fiction the way his predecessors approached Scripture, making it an endless source of subject matter for paintings.

In 1830, under the direct impression of the July Revolution, Delacroix painted a large canvas "Liberty Leading the People" ("Freedom at the Barricades"). Above the realistically depicted figures of participants in the revolutionary struggle, poor, mostly young people, inspired by the struggle, a magnificent woman hovers, reminiscent of the "geniuses" of Veronese. She has a banner in her hands, her face is inspired. This is not just an allegory of freedom in the spirit of classicism, it is a lofty symbol of revolutionary impulse. However, it is impossible to renounce the living, sensual female figure - she is so attractive. The picture turned out to be complex, charming, dynamic.

Like a real romantic, Delacroix travels to exotic countries: Algeria, Morocco. From the trip, he brings five paintings, among which "Lion Hunt in Morocco", apparently a tribute to his beloved Rubens.

Delacroix works a lot as a decorator, creating monumental works in the Bourbon and Luxembourg palaces, Parisian churches. He continues to work in the portrait genre, creating images of people of the era of romanticism, such as F. Chopin. Creativity Delacroix belongs to the heights of painting of the XIX century.

Painting and graphics German romanticism tends to be sentimental for the most part. And if German romantic literature really makes up a whole era, then you can’t say the same about the visual arts: in literature there was “Storm and Onslaught”, and in the visual arts - the idealization of family patriarchal life. In this sense, creativity Ludwig Richter (1803-1884): "Forest spring near Aricci", "Wedding procession in spring", etc. He also owns numerous drawings on the themes of fairy tales and folk songs, made in a rather dry manner.

But there is one large-scale figure in German romanticism that cannot be bypassed. it Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). He was a landscape painter and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Later he settled in Dresden and taught.

His landscape style is original, the paintings are remembered from the first meeting, it is felt in them that these are the landscapes of a romantic artist: they consistently express the specifics of the romantic worldview. He painted landscapes of southern Germany and the Baltic coast, wild rocks overgrown with forests, desert dunes, and a frozen sea. People are sometimes present in his paintings, but we rarely see their faces: the figures, as a rule, turn their backs to the viewer. Friedrich sought to convey the elemental power of nature. He searched for and discovered the consonance of natural forces and human moods and quests. And although he reflects life quite accurately, Friedrich's art is not realistic. This frightened Soviet art critics in the recent past, little was written about the artist, there were almost no reproductions of him. Now the situation has changed, and we can enjoy the deep spirituality of his paintings, the melancholy detached contemplation of Friedrich's landscapes. The clear rhythm of the composition, the severity of the drawing are combined in his works with the contrasts of chiaroscuro, rich in lighting effects. But sometimes Friedrich comes in his emotionality to aching melancholy, a sense of the frailty of everything earthly, to the stupor of a mystical trance. Today we are experiencing a surge of interest in the work of Friedrich. His most successful works are "Death of Nadezhda in the Ice", "Monastic Cemetery under the Snow", "Mass in a Gothic Ruin", "Sunset on the Sea" and others.

AT Russian romanticism there is a lot of contradiction in painting. In addition, for many years it was believed that a good artist is a realist. This is probably why the opinion was established that O. Kiprensky and A. Venetsianov, V. Tropinin and even A. Kuindzhi are realists, which seems to us incorrect, they are romantics.

The art of the period of romanticism at the heart of its idea has the spiritual and creative value of the individual, as the main topic for philosophy and reflection. It appeared at the end of the 18th century and is characterized by romantic motifs associated with various oddities and picturesque events or landscapes. At its core, the emergence of this trend was an opposition to classicism, and the harbinger of its appearance was sentimentalism, which was quite clearly expressed in the literature of that time.

By the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism flourished and completely immersed itself in sensual and emotional images. In addition, a very important fact was the rethinking of the attitude towards religion in this era, as well as the emergence of atheism expressed in the work. The values ​​​​of feelings and heartfelt experiences are put at the head, and there is also a gradual public recognition of a person's intuition.

Romanticism in painting

The direction is characterized by the allocation of sublime themes, which is the main one for this style in any creative activity. Sensuality is expressed in any possible and acceptable way, and this is the most important difference in this direction.

(Christiano Banti "Galileo before the Roman Inquisition")

Among the founders of philosophical romanticism, Novalis and Schleiermacher can be distinguished, but in painting, Theodore Gericault distinguished himself in this regard. In literature, one can note especially bright writers of the period of romanticism - the brothers Grimm, Hoffmann and Heine. In many European countries, this style developed under strong German influence.

The main features can be called:

• romantic notes clearly expressed in creativity;
• fabulous and mythological notes even in completely non-fairytale prose;
• philosophical reflections on the meaning of human life;
• deepening in the subject of personality development.

(Friedrich Caspar David "Moonrise over the sea")

It can be said that romanticism is characterized by notes of the cultivation of nature and the naturalness of human nature, and natural sensuality. The unity of man with nature is also glorified, and images of the knightly era, surrounded by an aura of nobility and honor, as well as travelers who easily embark on romantic journeys, are also very popular.

(John Martin "Macbeth")

Events in literature or painting develop around the strongest passions experienced by the characters. Heroes have always been personalities prone to adventurism, playing with fate and predetermination of fate. In painting, romanticism is perfectly characterized by fantastic phenomena that demonstrate the process of becoming a person and the spiritual development of a person.

Romanticism in Russian art

In Russian culture, romanticism was especially pronounced in literature, and it is believed that the first manifestations of this trend are expressed in Zhukovsky's romantic poetry, although some experts believe that his works are close to classical sentimentalism.

(V. M. Vasnetsov "Alyonushka")

Russian romanticism is characterized by freedom from classical conventions, and this trend is characterized by romantic dramatic plots and long ballads. In fact, this is the latest understanding of the essence of man, as well as the significance of poetry and creativity in people's lives. In this regard, the same poetry acquires a more serious, meaningful meaning, although earlier writing poetry was considered ordinary empty fun.

(Fedor Alexandrovich Vasiliev "Thaw")

Most often in Russian romanticism, the image of the protagonist is created as a lonely and deeply suffering person. It is suffering and emotional experiences that are given the most attention by authors both in literature and in painting. In fact, this is an eternal movement along with various thoughts and reflections, and the struggle of a person with constant changes in the world that surrounds him.

(Orest Kiprensky "Portrait of Life Hussars Colonel E.V. Davydov")

The hero is usually quite self-centered and constantly rebels against the vulgar and material goals and values ​​​​of people. It promotes getting rid of material values ​​in favor of spiritual and personal ones. Among the Russian most popular and striking characters created within the framework of this creative direction, one can single out the main character from the novel "A Hero of Our Time". It is this novel that very clearly demonstrates the motives and notes of romanticism in that period.

(Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky "Fishermen on the seashore")

The painting is characterized by fairy-tale and folklore motifs, romantic and full of various dreams. All works are as aesthetic as possible and have correct, beautiful constructions and forms. In this direction, there is no place for hard lines and geometric shapes, as well as overly bright and contrasting shades. In this case, complex structures and many small, very important details in the picture are used.

Romanticism in architecture

The architecture of the Romantic era is similar in itself to fairy-tale castles, and is distinguished by incredible luxury.

(Blenheim Palace, England)

The most striking and famous buildings of this time are characterized by:

• the use of metal structures, which was a new invention during this period, and represented a rather unique innovation;
• complex silhouettes and designs that involve incredible combinations of beautiful elements, including turrets and bay windows;
• the richness and variety of architectural forms, the abundance of various combinations of technologies for the use of iron alloys with stone and glass;
• the building acquires visual lightness, thin forms allow you to create even very large buildings with minimal bulkiness.

The most famous bridge of this period was created in 1779 in England, and was thrown over the River Severn. It has a fairly short length, just over 30 meters, but it was the first such structure. Later, bridges over 70 meters were created, and after a few years, cast-iron structures began to be used in the construction of buildings.

The buildings had up to 4-5 floors, and the interior layouts were characterized by asymmetric shapes. Asymmetry can also be seen in the facades of this era, and forged lattices on the windows make it possible to emphasize the appropriate mood. You can also use stained glass windows, which is especially true for churches and cathedrals.

The era of classicism and the Enlightenment, which dominated philosophy, literature and art for two centuries, ended with progressive ideas that quickly degenerated into bloody terror, executions and ideological impatience. The answer to such tangible contradictions between high ideas and the very unattractive reality that they gave rise to was the emergence of a very extensive and comprehensive cultural phenomenon - romanticism - the last direction in the history of art in its scope and depth of ideas, which found vivid expression in literature, music and painting. .

Romanticism in literature and art became the highest point of the ideas of humanism, which appeared during the Renaissance. It was then that close attention arose to the earthly man, with his shortcomings and weaknesses, he became the measure of all things. The results, which gave rise to sharp contradictions in the minds of young people and showed the whole inconsistency of the ideas of the Enlightenment, forced them to pay attention again to the inner world of the individual, to its originality and depth, rejecting the rational socio-political ideas of universal harmony and prosperity.

Romanticism in literature and art presented the world around a person as a mystery and a riddle, which can only be comprehended by feelings, emotions and heart. Rational reality is replaced by fantastic worlds that cannot be known by the mind. Only strong feelings are able to resist the world, and in strength and depth they are as powerful as the Universe.

A romantic hero always boldly challenges the world around him, he is well aware of his exclusivity, proud of it, while realizing that his death is inevitable, because he is in conflict not with individuals or social circumstances, but with the whole Universe. Romanticism in literature and art depicts the hero deeply and with great love, his strong emotional experiences. Moreover, these experiences are endless, because romantic heroes are a tight ball of contradictions. Rebelling against the imperfect world, some of them rush upward, trying to achieve perfection equal to God, while others, on the contrary, plunge into the frightening depth of evil and vice.

Romanticism in literature builds just as differently. Some romantic writers try to find an ideal in the Middle Ages, where they see a purer and more uncomplicated time, others design utopias, creating ideal models of the future. But they are all trying to get away from the present, where there is nothing but the wretched bourgeois reality.

Romanticism in literature became the founder of new forms and formulated new tasks that remain relevant today. Romantic writers created new content, proposed new ones, where the main thing is rebellion against dullness and routine, and the hero turns into a whole and harmonious person, comprehending and embracing with his unusual and powerful personality not only the laws of earthly existence, but also heavenly ideals.

Romanticism in art and literature formed the principles of nationality and historicism, which became fundamental in the further development of art. Another interesting undertaking in this direction was the theory of romantic irony, formulated by the theoretician, the German philosopher F. Schlegel. He proclaimed the great role of art as a perfect tool for understanding and transforming the world, respectively, the artists of romanticism are great creators, equal to God. But it was also clear that any, even the most talented artist, is just a person, and his view of the world is subjective and limited. The theory of romantic irony became the answer to this contradiction between the ideal in romantic art and reality. Schlegel argued that irony must necessarily be present in the artist's view not only of the world around him, but also of himself, of the creative process and its result. Thus, the creator admits his imperfection and the impossibility of creating an ideal, since he is unable to solve the riddle of the world and the universe.