Powerpoint presentation

1. Romanticism
Introduction

2. The
Enlightenment
Science
Rationality
Order
Reason
Romanticism was a movement that emerged in the mid-Eighteenth century as a reaction
against the rationalist values of the Enlightenment

3. Romanticism
Trust your
heart rather
than your
head
“Feeling is all!”
Shift in focus from
Reason to
feelings and
Imagination
While the Enlightenment emphasized rational thought and objectivity, Romanticism
turned inwards to explore subjective feelings, emotions, and the imagination

4. Jean Jacques Rousseau, author of the Social Contract and defender of the “natural
rights of man,” was a leading figure in the transition from the Enlightenment to the new
philosophy of Romanticism

5. In 1762 he published a treatise on education, in which he explored the role of education
in the socialization of children

6. Rousseau believed that all children are born innocent and free, but that education,
with its imposition of socially approved rules, functions to corrupt us, and to turn us
away from our natural inclinations

7. He advocated a new approach to education that would enable children to
develop their minds free of imposed rules and rote lessons, and to form their
own beliefs free of bias and preconceived ideas

8. In many ways, then, the goal of Romanticism was to take the next step
towards human freedom by unshackling our minds from the vice grip of
social custom, and liberating us to live more fully and freely

9. The key to this liberation was through feeling and imagination, rather
than reason and rationality, as suggested by the Romantic slogan: “trust
your heart rather than your head.”
Trust your heart
rather than your
head!

10. J.W.M. Turner, Dudley, 1832
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool
Romanticism was also a reaction against the impact of the Industrial
Revolution, which was transforming the natural world, as factories and pollution
took over the natural landscape, and rationalized work schedules turned
humans into cogs in a heartless machine

11. J.W.M. Turner, Dudley, 1832
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool
Was society becoming too rational, mechanical, and heartless?

12. The impact of Romanticism on art was profound, and is difficult to
summarize. In literature it inspired an emphasis on feeling and
imagination, and a deep appreciation of the “natural world” untainted by
the progress of civilization

13. “They were the first to recognise the redemptive powers of the natural
world, and were truly the pioneers in what has since become the ‘back to
nature' movement. Anyone who yearns to walk beside the sea, or to
ascend a mountain, or to row across a lake, owes a great debt to these . .
. poets.”
Peter Akroyd, “The Romantics” (BBC)

14. Joseph Karl Stiler, Portrait of Beethoven, 1820Eugene Delacroix, Portrait of Chopin, 1838
In music, the intricate polyphonies of Bach gave way to the lush and passionate
expressions of Beethoven and Chopin, whose musical compositions take the
listener on an emotional roller coaster ride

15. Jacques Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Louvre
And in painting Romanticism marked a decisive break with Neoclassicism

16. Neoclassicism celebrated men of “Virtue” and “Reason,” reflecting the Enlightenment
belief that human beings are essentially rational creatures
Jacques Louis David, Death of Socrates, 1787
Metropolitan Museum

17. Jacques Louis David, Napoleon at Saint-Bernard Pass, 1801
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
But the Reign of Terror and Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise to power demonstrated that
human nature is much more complex (and fearsome) than the virtuous heroes that
populated Neoclassical art

18. Eugene Delacroix, Orphan Girl at a Cemetery, 1824
Louvre
Gericault, Portrait of a Woman Suffering from Obsessive Envy, also known as
The Hyena of the Salpêriére, c. 1819-1829. Museé des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Romantic artists explored the full range of human emotions – including terror, awe,
and madness

19. They explored what could be called “the dark side” of human nature (think
Darth Vader!), recognizing that human beings (like wild animals) are often
driven by instincts and irrational passions, rather than “reason.”

20. Eugene Delacroix, Lion Hunt, 1855
Images of wild nature and animals became popular as a reaction to the Neoclassical
emphasis on virtue and reason

21. Eugene Delacroix, The Natchez, 1823-24/1825
Metropolitan Museum
And a fascination with pre-modern and non-western cultures reflected the Romantic
desire to escape social restrictions and to discover a more “natural” unfettered self

22. Jacques Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Louvre
But above all, Romanticism was a revolution in style

23. Jacques Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784
Louvre
While Neoclassicism was calculated and planned, favoring cool colors, crisp
outlines, and balanced compositions, Romantic painting was wild and passionate

24. Eugene Delacroix, Lion Hunt, 1855
Romantic paintings are often loosely painted – sketchy and improvisatory, rather
than precise and smoothly finished – and full of uncontrolled emotion

25. Eugene Delacroix, Lion Hunt, 1855
It was a kind of “declaration of independence” for painterly freedom, ushering in a
modern sensibility that privileges artistic freedom and individuality over obedient
adherence to rules

26. The “battle of the schools” was first played out in the early decades of the
19th century by the Romantic painter Eugene Delacroix (pictured on the left),
and the Neoclassicist Jean August Dominique Ingres – the subject of the
next presentation

27. Watch this video for an overview of Romanticism from The School of Life