Preferences and Perspectives - The Romantic Era
Although the woman is enveloped in bright light, Fuseli suggests that the light cannot pierce the nightmarish realm of the human mind. The relationship between the woman, the incubus, and the mare is not explicit and therefore remains suggestive, emphasizing the frightening possibilities.
The Nightmare frightened and shocked its audience when exhibited at London’s Royal Academy. It was unlike anything the public was used to seeing, as the subject matter was not taken from the bible or a moment in history, nor was it created for the sake of moralizing the viewer.
Upper Fall of the Reichenbach: Rainbow (1810) by J. M. W. Turner
Turner expressed the notion of the “sublime” in his paintings, a concept postulated by the philosopher Edmond Burke, where he depicted the feeling one sensed when experiencing the overwhelming force and grandeur of nature.
Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (c. 1818)
Friedrich skillfully used space to illustrate man’s minuscule standing in nature, a solitary figure amidst the immense landscape. The landscape is made up of composites of landmarks around Eastern Germany from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. The wanderer seems to be contemplating the world that exists before him.
The man’s figure takes up a central position in the painting, which may suggest that he has command over the world before him. Yet, as the fog subtly blends into the horizon, we become aware of the scale of the landscape that stretches infinitely before him. We see that the world fundamentally remains unknown. Friedrich’s awe-inspiring painting elevated the landscape painting.
The Raft of the Medusa (1818-1819) by Théodore Géricault; Théodore Géricault, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
CitedFamous Romanticism Paintings - The Best Examples of Romantic-Era Art (artincontext.org)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThe first painting you presented, The Nightmare, was creepy but nothing I have seen before. The way the woman is laying down and how the evil gremlin is sitting on her is very different to see. There seems to lots of lighting on the woman compared to other areas in the painting. In your second chosen painting I really like how Turner painted it. It made me feel like I was in the painting. I always see rainbows after it rains and there is always an erry fog that comes over. I can really smell and feel this painting. For the third painting I really like how the water was painted. You can tell its windy. The painting is well balanced with the man positioned in the middle. In your last painting, the light and shadow is amazing. Each figure has so much detail. I like the waves in the background and the dark smoke.