The Romanticism movement is one of the most influential, widespread and long-lasting artistic movements ever. Infiltrating every sector of the arts, it challenges the modern abandonment of character and vision that came with the Industrial Revolution and its urbanising consequences.

Beginning in the 1750s in Western Europe, the movement arose as a reaction to the stifling spread of consumerism, capitalism and mechanisation. It inspired a return to the innocence, idealism and wonder of childhood, and a simple lifestyle, placing a specific focus on the beauty of nature and its superiority over the human race.

Painters, poets, architects and musicians all contributed their efforts to this development, and created some of the most famous pieces of art we know and love today. For example, the painters Constable and Turner produced these well-known works –

Poets produced famous Romantic poems, such as Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Byron’s She Walks in Beauty, exploring a revolutionary rebellion against the style of poetry from the eighteenth century which was based around epics, odes, satires, elegies, epistles and songs. It broke down barriers and boiled up from serious, contemplative reflection over the interaction of humans with their environment, a dominant theme being the filtering of natural emotion through the human mind in order to create meaning.

The primary characteristics of Romantic architecture were based on the implementation of older styles in new buildings. A key theme of Romanticism as a whole was a fascination with the Medieval period – known as Medievalism. One example of this in architecture is Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin’s Palace of Westminster (The UK parliament), designed in the style of 14th–16th century architecture, specifically the Gothic style. The old-fashioned appearance of this building defies its fairly late design and construction.

The musical figures of the Romantic era are famed for a far more dramatic and energetic style than had ever been seen before. This is thanks to the far more freely composed melodies, ample use of chromatic harmonies and dissonances as well as more dynamics and articulations than ever before. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Nutcracker are two of the most famous and frequently performed ballets ever, with their extremely recognisable themes and motifs (eg. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy is a very well-known melody). Additionally, Frédéric Chopin, a Polish composer, wrote his Nocturne op.9 no. 2, one of the most famous piano pieces in history, which showed its Romanticism through its excessive use of ornamentation and dynamic direction.

All of these cultural showcases of the Romantic ideology represent the widespread appreciation of the movement and its relatability to the human mind.

Moving past this era, as photography develops as a medium, we start to see some landscape photographers bringing their own interpretation to the movement. Their focus on dark and dramatic scenes align very clearly with Romantic characteristics One example of this is the work of famous war photographer Don McCullin, who photographed rural Somerset scenes following his evacuation as a result of the Blitz –

Fay Godwin, despite her work appearing to the average viewer as very typically Romantic in its appearance, went on to reject the notion of beauty and landscape, even going so far as to stating that her photography did not fit anywhere in the ‘sublime’, romantic tradition.

The work of classic American photographer Ansel Adams definitely conveys the Romantic drama and energy. His landscape images are well known in their familiar composition and depth.

What is the Sublime?

Romantic artists explored the idea of the Sublime – an overwhelming emotional response of awe that transcends rationality within the human soul, usually to nature. This is represented through abstraction, colour and light in imagery, and through the use of highly emotional language in literary works. This is an attempt to spark in the viewer/reader/listener the same feeling of overwhelming wonder at creation that the artist was inspired by.

Romanticism a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.

For Romantics, the sublime is a meeting of the subjective-internal (emotional) and the objective-external (natural world): we allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation

The 5 elements of romanticism:

There are five characteristics of Romanticism that all begin with the letter “I”: Intuition, Imagination, Innocence, Inspiration, and Inner Experience.

Common features of Romanticism also include looking to the past as well as to nature for guidance and wisdom. 

Sublime

The definition of sublime is”of very great excellence or beauty.”.

The Sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. The Sublime refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. The Sublime is related to threat and agony, to spaces where calamities happen or things run beyond human control.

The sublime has long been understood to mean a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder. From the seventeenth century onwards the concept and the emotions it inspires have been a source of inspiration for artists and writers, particularly in relation to the natural landscape

The time period of romanticism

The Romantic Period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837.Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century.

In the 1760s and ’70s a number of British artists at home and in Rome, including James Barry, Henry Fuseli, John Hamilton Mortimer, and John Flaxman, began to paint subjects that were at odds with the strict decorum and classical historical and mythological subject matter of conventional figurative art. These artists favoured themes that were bizarre, pathetic, or extravagantly heroic, and they defined their images with tensely linear drawing and bold contrasts of light and shade. William Blake, the other principal early Romantic painter in England, evolved his own powerful and unique visionary images.

What is romanticism?

Romanticism is the artistic movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which was concerned with the expression of the individual’s feelings and emotions. Romanticism is attitudes, ideals, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic.

Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion, individualism, idealization of nature and glorification of the past with a strong preference for the medieval. It was partly a reaction to events such as the Industrial Revolution, the social and political norms of the age of enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature as well as having a significant effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing conservatism, liberalism, radicalism and nationalism.

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as fear, horror, terror and awe. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, but also spontaneity as a desirable characteristic. Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of “heroic” individualists and artists, whose examples would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism. The decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes.

examples of romanticism:

The sublime

The definition of sublime is used to describe anything that is so wonderful, it effects you emotionally. In romanticism the meaning of sublime is a meeting of the emotional and the natural world, where we allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by philosopher Edmund Burke in his book titled ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’ which he published in 1757. He defined the sublime as “an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling.”

Romanticism artists

J.M.W. Turner – Joseph Mallord William Turner, also known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent, marine paintings. He was born on April 23, 1775, and would later pass on the day of December 19, 1851.

Casper David Friedrich – Friedrich was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. Born on September 5, 1774 in Greifswald, Germany and dying on  May 7, 1840 in Dresden, Germany he lived a full life of 66 years.

William Blake – an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. 

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. It began approximately during 1770, during the industrial revolution. Romanticism is often seen as the reaction to the developing urban world, and the negative impact it has on people. The Age of Romanticism heavily contrasts with the Age of Enlightenment, since it was the act of moving away from those ideas and traditions.

Romantics believed in the natural goodness of humans which is hindered by the urban life of civilization. They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar. They also believed in following your heart, especially when it comes to emotions, most importantly love. A core belief of romantics is ‘civilisation is what has made us sick’. Writers and artists rejected the notion of the Enlightenment, which had sucked emotion from writing, politics, art, etc. Writers and artists in the Romantic period favoured depicting emotions such as trepidation, horror, and wild untamed nature.

Romanticism in Art and Photography

Romanticism in art and photography always portrayed some sort of natural scene; the rural landscape being captured in a free and wild way. Romantics were heavily influenced by nature, wanting to be as carefree as possible. Furthermore, nature was captured in a way that clearly presented it as a powerful and important aspect of our world, suggesting how insignificant humans and our impact on the world (such as our architecture) truly are in comparison.

The Sublime

The Sublime isa meeting of the subjective-internal (emotional) and the objective-external (natural world): we allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation. It is the sense of accepting and cherishing our insignificance in this world. The Sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. The Sublime refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. The Sublime is related to threat and agony, to spaces where calamities happen or things run beyond human control.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in ‘A Philosophical Enquiry‘ and was in 1757. It connected the sublime with experiences of awe, danger and terror, creating a new meaning for the word. He defined the sublime as an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling. The philosopher understood the importance of people being made to feel small and insignificant as a way of putting daily life in perspective, and to counter the inflation of the ego. 

Sublime Art and Photography

Joseph Turner painted many pictures exploring the extreme weather at sea. In this piece, a steam-boat is shown at sea during the storm. It used to be told that Turner was once actually tied to a mast of another ship during this storm to capture the event from a first person experience and so that he could paint it from memory. This is now thought to be untrue, but it has been used as an example of Turner’s direct engagement with the world around him and his experience of the sublime. The small ship, being overpowered by water and wind, can be seen as a symbol of human’s efforts to overcome the forces of nature.

 This is a famous piece by Philip James de Loutherbourg, who specialised in such landscapes. He added human drama to the avalanche’s awesome progress by painting terrified people, in the foreground, who appear to be soon overwhelmed by nature’s power. The sublime is very clear in this piece, the humans seen in the image being insignificant and powerless against the sheer force of nature. De Loutherbourg’s exploration of sublime effect was assisted by his work as a theatre set designer.

Joe Cornish captured this iceberg and explained how he managed to capture a sublime photo by saying: ‘all icebergs are ultimately doomed, and when they are as delicate and fragile as this one their demise is near. So near, that just a few seconds after this photograph was taken the arch collapsed, scattering shards of ice as dangerous projectiles either side of the impact zone. Luckily for us, we were not in the line of fire‘. This presents the idea of how something beautiful and spectacular can evoke so much fear in a human. It also indicates how truly powerful nature is, powerful enough to destroy itself.

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Andi Balogh is another modern day photographer who captures fascinating pictures of women surrounded by ethereal ice landscapes which are “inspired by the Nordic ambiance, healing nature, and internal spheres”. His photos seem to often include a misty, engulfing background which seems to flow around the woman in his photos, appearing as through they are overpowering her. Her closed poses imply she has come to terms with her insignificance against the wild nature around her. Balogh explained his aim in his photos is “to radiate the northern ambience which I see magical. I interconnect the external nature with the inner realities involving the feminine human form. Mostly I’m the photographer and the object/subject in the photo because my goal is emphasize the calmness, deep connection with nature and the constructive force in way the northern atmosphere has affected and affects me” which presents the romantic photographer as very understanding of the sublime.

Under the Northern Sky: the sublime and ethereal photography of Andi Balogh

Romanticism

Romanticism is attitudes, ideals, and feelings which are romantic rather than realistic, it is also putting nature over any other ideals that a person might have. It is a mindset that many people have. Romanticism aims at being the last hope for anti-conventionalism, individuality, or even immaturity.

The age of romanticism began in the late 18th century, around the industrial age. It was a reaction to the modern world from artists and poets (and now photographers). It was based around the innocence and immaturity of children and how natural everything is for children.

The sublime

The sublime has been connected with awe, terror and danger. Edmund Burke (Philosophical Enquiry, 1757) saw nature as the most sublime object, capable of generating the strongest sensations in its beholders. The Romantic conception of the sublime proved influential for several generations of artists.

The sublime has long been understood to mean a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder. From the seventeenth century onwards the concept and the emotions it inspires have been a source of inspiration for artists and writers, particularly in relation to the natural landscape.

Artists that used Romanticism

J.M.W Turner – Known in his time as William Turner. He was a romantic English painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for the bright colours in his work and often violent marine images.

Fay Godwin – Known for her black and white images of landscapes. She often collaborated closely with writers to produce in depth surveys of particular rural regions or topics.

Romanticism was an art form that rejected classicalism and focused on nature, imagination and emotion. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. It began in 1800 and was very popular until around 1850.

Henry Fuseli

Fuseli’s was born in zurich in 1741 and died in London in 1825. His oil painting, The Nightmare, was one of the first Romanticism art pieces ever done. The painting shows a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, and with a demonic creature on top of her chest.

J.M.W Turner

J.M.W Turner, was an English romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist, born in 1775 and died in 1851. He was and is still known for his expressive colouring and imaginative landscapes. His painting, Hannibal crossing the Alpes depicts the challenging efforts of Hannibal’s soldiers to cross the Alpes in 218BC. Turner created a dynamic balance of light and dark that recurred in his later works.

The sublime

The sublime is a western aesthetic concept of ‘the exalted’ of ‘beauty that is grand and dangerous’. It refers to the wild, unbounded grandeur of nature. The origin of the sublime could be related back to the publication of ‘A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful’, by Edmund Burk. This book provided the English romantic movement with an analysis of what constitutes the sublime, and all the qualities it possesses.

Burk was born in 1729 and died in 1797. He had various political achievements including a whig MP and also the founder of modern conservatism.

Landscape photography is the art of capturing pictures of nature and the outdoors in a way that brings your viewer into the scene. From grand landscapes to intimate details, the best photos demonstrate the photographer’s own connection to nature and capture the essence of the world around them. Below, you’ll find all the landscape photography articles we have written over the past decade, including our highly approachable tutorials and techniques. If you want to learn everything there is to know about taking beautiful landscape pictures, this is the place to start.