Romanticism

ロマン主義 / c. 1790–1850 / Style / Figurative Painting

Romanticism pushed beyond reason and rule toward emotion, the sublime, overwhelming nature, revolution and exceptional events through dramatic light, diagonal force, turbulent brushwork and extreme scale.

Storm, sea, mountain or fire making nature sublime / High-contrast light and diagonally driven composition / Gesture and loose brushwork carrying crisis or passion / Tiny figures against vast landscape or a dramatically compressed crowd

Romanticism — カスパー・ダーヴィト・フリードリヒ『雲海の上の旅人』— Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
カスパー・ダーヴィト・フリードリヒ『雲海の上の旅人』— Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Dictionary entry

Best used for
Making nature, politics or private emotion bodily felt before it is explained · Breaking classical order by turning weather, light and gesture into narrative forces
Type
Choose a serif strong enough for high contrast and slope, moving body text to a quiet edge.
Composition
Establish a diagonal axis and large light-dark masses first, then pull figures into the force of landscape or crowd.
Material
Collide deep shadow with the warm light of flame, sunset or lightning and dissolve some contours into weather and brushwork.
Caution
Sunsets, ruins and dramatic figures alone are not enough. Decide whether the sublime, revolution or personal emotion is resisting the norm.
Further study
European Romanticism / The sublime, revolution and emotional landscape / Delacroix, Turner and Friedrich

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