Romantic Era Blog

Regarding the Romantic Era, there are various prominent art styles that emerged. The Romantic Era spanned from the early 1800's to around 1900. In this post, I will analyze and compare four total art pieces from two different styles from the Romantic Era. The first will be Realism, and the second will be Romanticism.

Realist Style

The first piece from the Realist art movement is titled A Burial At Ornans and it was painted by Gustave Courbet in France.

The second artwork is titled The Third-Class Carriage, it was completed in France by the painter Honore Daumier.

Both of these works, as well as many other works from the Realism movement, use various art elements to convey the artist's intentions to add to the subject matter. The first element that stands out to me is color. Color as a mood to be more specific. The dark color palate gives off the moods of melancholy and sadness. Tone as a contrast is another example of an art elements applied to these paintings. The background as well as the clothing worn by the people depicted has a much darker tone compared to the faces and other body parts. This puts an emphasis on the individuals depicted and their expressions, rather than the surroundings. Finally these Realist works use jagged lines to depict the more rigid and realistic situations. The jagged lines stand out to me especially in The Third-Class Carriage as the facial features depict a state of anxiety or uncertainty in the people. Personally I prefer  the works of Realism as they particularly stand out to me with their depictions of real life situations. I find this much more thought provoking compared to other styles of this time period.

Romantic Style

The first work I selected to represent the Romantic Style is a popular one, titled Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, created in Germany by Caspar David Friedrich.

The final work I selected is by the Russian painter Ivan Aivazovsky, it is titled View of Tiflis, and is was completed in Russia.

When it comes to the Romantic Style the first thing that stands out is the vivid use of color. Color plays many different roles as an art element in these pieces. Both of these paintings and many others that fall under the Romantic Style use color as a light. In the first piece there is light colors representing the light reflecting off of the fog below. In the second painting light blue and yellow to represent the sun illuminating the city from behind the mountains in the distance. Natural patterns are also used. Whether it be the rocks below or the mountains in the distance seen in Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog or the trees and the mountains in the View of Tiflis, natural patterns can be seen throughout these paintings. Finally, optical texture is used to help differentiate between objects in these paintings. The artists create different textures to help the viewer see a clear distinction between different parts of the paintings. In the first painting, the individual "Wanderer" has a different texture compared to the rocks and the rocks, a different texture to that of the fog. In the View of Tiflis, the painting creates a clear distinction of texture for the buildings compared to the passerby below and to the mountains and cliffs. The art in the Romantic style has some of the most jaw-dropping visuals I have ever seen. While the paintings are amazing and a treat to look at, they are just that. No more than visual spectacles. These paintings would definitely qualify as ones I would want to own and display. Despite this, they contain no thought provoking themes, in my opinion. Which I usually tend to prefer.

Realism vs. Romantic Styles

Both the Realism and Romantic styles of the Romantic Era have their own goals and intentions. When it comes to the Realist styles the intentions lie in displaying the world as it really is. Not being afraid to touch on darker subjects and truths that some might be uncomfortable with seeing in a piece of art. Realism art's focus is on shedding light on the actual people who live and take up the majority of society. This would include middle class laborers and sometimes even lower class citizens. While these depictions might be seen as "unappealing" to some, I personally enjoy them for their down-to-earthness. While I do not relate to those depicted as the living standard has increased in modern society substantially since the time period of the Romantic Era, I still appreciate what the artists were trying to achieve. 

The intentions of the Romantic style is very different to that of Realism. For one, the Romantic style romanticizes life in an almost unrealistic manner for the time-period. While this does allow for the limits of artistic expression to be pushed which I think is a good thing, I think the idealized nature of it is not. Despite this the Romantic style had good intentions of depicting imagination and nature. Viewing some of the art just makes me want to go on an adventure or even live in that time period. Compared to Realism which would make me want to avoid that period of time. Despite this I think Realism and Romanticism go hand in hand, Realism would not exist without Romanticism and Romanticism would not be the same without Realism.

Works Cited

Gustave Courbet (no date) Artist Info. Available at: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1174.html (Accessed: 25 March 2024).

Romanticism (2024) Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism (Accessed: 25 March 2024).

 Secure (2023) What is realism in art? definition, artists, & examples, Sparks Gallery. Available at: https://sparksgallery.com/learn/what-is-realism-in-art-definition-artists-examples (Accessed: 25 March 2024).

DeGuzman, K. (2023a) Romanticism in art - definition, examples & traits, StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-romanticism-art-definition/ (Accessed: 25 March 2024).