Romanticism Versus Impressionism, Essay Example

In the history of human civilisation, there were various expressions of art and cultural specifics. Each epoch had its own interpretation of beauty and art. Depending on the main trends in socio-political and cultural development of one civilisation or another, different approaches were applied to the art. Each art movement has a different message to send to the contemporary audience. This message refers to what a certain society perceived to be aesthetic and which values dominated the historical discourse of the time. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast two art moments including a representative from each movement. For this purpose, Romanticism and Impressionism together with Francisco Goya and Claude Monet were chosen respectively.

Both movements developed as an opposition to the previous traditions dominating their societies. In this regard, Romanticism was a demonstration of rebellion against the rationalism and moral approach to the art dictated by Enlightenment, while Impressionist developed as an opposition to painting techniques dogmas of the Paris Salon (Salmi 102). Romanticism developed after the French Revolution and characterised the period of 1790 to 1850, while Impressionism developed in 1860s particularly in French art as result of conflict between Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and the Paris School of painters (Facos 121). Although both movements are characterised by rebellious motives in their origins, their focal points and themes were quite different.

The essence of Romanticism was in the proclamation of the free will, concentration on the human individualism instead of servitude for common goodness or slavery for the sake of the country or any representation of power or authorities (Rosenthal 43). In this regard, artists concentrated on the exploration of the human nature in its diverse embodiments. The main motives of the movement included the depiction of human portraits with attention to the diversity of moods and facial expressions, description of fantasies and surreal tendencies of a human psyche and dreams. On various occasions, artists described their own feelings and emotions in their works, since Romanticism proclaimed the artistic value of subjectivity, the personification of the art and its multi-facet interpretation (Rosenthal 47). Romanticism was also a revival of epic motives in art. It also explored the connection between a human being and nature. That is why landscapes and nature-related backgrounds became essential in this epoch. Furthermore, Romanticism paid attention to the details of composition as means of reflecting aforementioned concepts

On the other hand, Impressionism mainly referred to the painting art and concentrated on the perspective of painting and the purpose it was meant to achieve. This movement is also known as optical realism, since the primary purpose of impressionist works was to show the influence of light on subject’s manifestation and consequent meaning (Gunderson 65). The main concept of the movement was that “a human eye is a marvellous instrument” that depending on perspective can see any subject in diverse perspectives (Salmi 97). The ideal for the artists of this time was a raw vision rather than rationalism. In this case, both Romanticism and Impressionism objected rationalism, although from different perspectives. The main techniques of Impressionist paintings included thick brush strokes used to outline the body of the subject using the technique of impasto.  Paintings were characterised by the diversity of colours, avoiding mixing them. The main tool of impression was lighting that is why, painters often drew at different times of the day and lighting in order to achieve the diversity of perspectives and intended aspect of description (Gunderson 68).

In order to understand the contrast between two movements, the artistic approaches to paintings by Monet and Goya should be analysed. Goya followed the main trends of his movement and concentrated on the reflection of human nature in his works, both through the picturesque portraits demonstrating human emotions and imaginary creatures from his dreams and fears (Rosenthal 56). In this regard, his artistic works are characterised by the complexity of his mental state and perception of reality. As many Romanticists, he reflected his own emotions in his works, particularly in the late dark stage of his career. However, his early works particularly human portraits are characterised by the attention to details and realistic reflections on the human body in its full complexity: both attractiveness and ugliness (Facos 123). In one of the most famous works of this period The Nude Maja 1800, Goya used demonstrated attention to the details of a human body, eve such intimate as pubic hair. This work also shows the common techniques Goya used the game of light and shadow in order to concentrate the viewers’ attention on the target object – the naked body of a beautiful woman. In this regard, the background is dark without any specific detail, while the woman’s body looks like it is glowing, which is achieved by the use of different shades of pale colours contrasted with the dark background and the intensity of the colours of the bedcover (Rosenthal 55). In this regard, Goya demonstrates such features of Romanticism in paintings like the play of light and shadow, centralisation of the subject, the use of dark colours to intensify the impression, combination of soft and harsh lines, attention to details, the use of contrast to increase to stimulate perception (Salmi 92).

On the other hand, as it was mentioned above Impressionists together with Monet applied entirely different approach to painting techniques. Monet’s “Morning on the Seine IV” demonstrates this approach and difference between Impressionism and Romanticism in the best way. Monet did not use contrast in order to emphasise the primary subject of the painting; the entire composition was the primary subject like the eye would catch it. Monet used bright colours: various shades of blue and light yellow (Gunderson 112). There are no dark colours to create the shadow or contrast effect, the distinction between the objects is achieved through the use of shades of the same colour. The lines are all soft, and transition from the surface of the lake to trees and clouds is smooth (Salmi 93).

Like most of the Impressionists, Monet did not use black colour but the mixture of the available colours in order to create the desired shade (Gunderson 72). Thus, except for the specific brush strokes, Impressionists’ paintings were bright and full of colour and smooth transitions, while Romanticists preferred to use contrast, dark colours, detailed contours of the images (Rosenthal 61). Romanticists preferred to work indoors with maximum light available in order to create an artificial lighting in the painting, while Impressionists worked outdoors and used the natural light to create the desired lighting perspective of their works (Gunderson 78). Another essential difference between two movements was that Impressionists mainly painted nature and diverse landscapes, and very seldom human portraits, while Romanticists explored the variety of subjects in their works (Facos 125).

Another distinctive feature of the two movements is their correlation between the painter’s intention and the message sent to a viewer. In this regard, Romanticism wanted to explore the human nature through the art and demonstrate through two lenses: the author’s subjective perspective on the human nature and the features outlined in the described image, meaning the chosen subject in its symbolical interpretation irrespective of the author’s intentions (Salmi 91). Consequently, the viewing audience would receive the dual message: the one intended by the author of the painting and the symbolical one carried by the subject due to its historical or epic meaning like John Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott, 1888 (Rosenthal 39). In this regard, Romanticism aimed at bringing together various aspects of human nature and the diversity of its interpretations to stimulate human thinking on the subject matter.

In fact, Impressionism was doing exactly the same but regarding human perception of the surrounding world and the place of a human being in it, although it was achieved through different means. In order to stimulate human thinking on the nature of things, impressionists concentrated on the diversity of perceptions of what a human eye could see depending on the change of lighting or focus. The intention was to explore the dimensions of human perception of ordinary things like nature and how they could be altered by a simple change of focus. In this regard, Impressionism was forcing the viewer to experience the fullness of surrounding environment in all its diversity. Thus, both Romanticism and Impressionism aimed at stimulating viewers thinking on the nature of things; however, it was conducted in different ways (Facos 124).   On the other hand, Romanticism was predominantly individualist in its concentration that is why various individual interpretations and subjective purposes were often counter-productive and conflicting creating more questions than answers. Impressionism carted more freedom of interpretation with the lack of subjectivity from the author, making the artworks more aesthetical than symbolical in their nature (Salmi 84).

Overall, from all mentioned above, it can be concluded that although both movements appeared as rebellious trends against the existing status quo in art of relatively the same time, and aimed at stimulating the change in human perception of life, they were different in means and emphases of the achievement of their goal. Romanticism was human-centred in its overview and was interested in the diversity of human subjective interpretations and inner self-exploration. On the other hand, Impressionism was oriented towards viewing the diversity of nature phenomena in their non-artificial settings based only on the perspective of a human eye.  Romanticism can be viewed as human search of self-realisation and understanding, while Impressionism is an attempt to understand the surrounding nature through a human aesthetic experience of it.

Works Cited

Facos, M. An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art. London: Routledge. 2011. Print.

Gunderson, J. Impressionism. Mankato: Creative Education. 2009. Print.

Rosenthal, L. Romanticism. New York: Parsktone Press International. 2008. Print.

Salmi, H. 19^th Century Europe: A Cultural History. Cambridge: Polity Press. 2008. Print.