Romanticism
About
An artistic movement with its origins in literature, Romanticism was prominent in Western European art from roughly 1800-1850, embracing emotional intensity, subjectivity, and the imagination. Arising in Germany, England, and France, and opposing the rationalism and order of the church, state, Enlightenment thought, and Neoclassical art, Romanticism was associated with some of the best known Western artists of the 19th century, including Théodore Géricualt, Eugène Delacroix, Francisco de Goya, J.M.W. Turner, and John Constable. The unpredictability, sublime power and chaos of nature were a common subject for Romantic works, as were exotic experiences in regions like what was called “The Orient” (the East) and North Africa, particularly Morocco and Algeria. Many of what we consider to be the major aspects of modern and contemporary art—including personal, emotional subjects, and the individuality of the artist—find their beginnings in Romanticism.
