Romanticism and

Realism

Teachers: Jaume Rosselló and Alba Dolcet

 Romanticism
1. Literature: Edgar Allan Poe,
“Attitude or intellectual
Goethe, Jacint Verdaguer,
orientation that characterized
Christian Andersen and the
many works of literature,
Grimm’s Brothers.
painting, music, architecture… in
2. Music: Verdi, Beethoven,
Western civilization over the
Chopin or Mozart.
period from the late 18th century
3. Architecture: Gothic revival.
to the mid-19th century”
(Britannica Encyclopedia).
 Romanticism vs. Neoclassicism

Delacroix (1832). Liberty leading the People. David (1784). The Oath of the Horatii
 Main ideas

1. Ideals of the Revolution (Freedom, Equality and Justice) painted by artists.

2. “Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a
way of feeling” Charles Baudelaire.
3. The start of the Plein air painting.
4. The emergence of nationalist feelings lead to the recovery of the folklore and the
valorization of the local traditions.
5. Nostalgy towards the past (an idealized one) and the projection that the oriental society
was purer than the occidental (the Industrial Revolution had started).
Goya (1814). Third of may 1808.
Turner (1844). Rain, Steam, and Speed.
Friedrich (1818). Wanderer above a sea of fog.
Ingress (1814). Grande Odalisque.
 Realism
“Painting is the representation of visible
forms. The essence of Realism is its
negation of the ideal” Gustave Courbet.
Literature: Gustave Flaubert,
“Realism aims at an exact, complete and Tolstoi, Dostoievski, Émile Zola,
honest reproduction of the social
environment, of the age in which the
Charles Dickens, Àngel Guimerà or
author lives, because such studies are Narcís Oller.
justified by reason, by the demands made
by public interest and understanding, and
because they are free from falsehood and
deception. This reproduction should be as
simple as possible so that all may
understand it” Edmond Duranty.
 Main ideas

1. It was the first time in Art History that everyday events and ordinary people had the main
place on canvasses (influence of Caravggio).
2. They were influenced by the new ideologies: Communism, Socialism, and Anarchism.
They wanted to represent the human conditions in which most of the population were
living.
Courbet (1849 - 1850). The burial at Ornans.
Millet (1857). The Gleaners.
Manet (1863). Lunch on the
Grass.