The 17 characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, cultural and literary movement that took place mainly on the European continent between the 18th and 19th centuries.

The romantics are characterized, among many other things, in creating a movement counter to what the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism, very close in time, supposed.

Then we will see the characteristics of Romanticism together with some of the most notable characters of this artistic-philosophical trend.

• Related article: "The 4 most important characteristics of the Baroque"

The characteristics of Romanticism that help to recognize it

Romanticism was an artistic, intellectual and cultural movement that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in various European countries, but especially in England, Germany and France.

These three nations would be the main stage of this cultural movement, but they would end extending to the rest of European countries and, also, would cross the Atlantic reaching up to the USA. These are its main characteristics.

1. Rejection of the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism

The Romantics arose as a contrast to the intellectual movement of the Enlightenment and its artistic expression through Neoclassicism, where logic, reason and objectivity were highly valued. Both enlightened thinkers and neoclassical artists were in favor of standardizing everything in form and content.

The romantics were against these ideas, as they were a way of restricting creativity and expressive freedom. Furthermore, in the 18th and 19th centuries there were a deep disappointment with Humanity, given that with the Industrial Revolution the people were being exploited even more if possible, emerging many unjust ways of treating the proletariat.

This is why the romantics were unable to think that they were living in the best moment of history, since it seemed that society had become a hostile, cruel and squeezing place.

2. Exaltation of subjectivity and emotions

Romantics exalt feelings and subjectivity, with which artists and art were able to free themselves. Feelings were above reason, which is why emotions such as fear, love, Passion, madness and loneliness were recurring themes in both written and pictorial works of the epoch.

Within the romantic logic it is understood that art should only obey the purpose of express the artist's subjectivity, capture his point of view, sensitivities, opinions, fears and wishes.

Art goes from being made to the interests of the client (patron) and becomes an individual expression of the artist. The romantics flee from the propaganda use that had been made of artistic compositions, turned into products made to represent the bonanzas and riches of the ruling elites.

• You may be interested in: "Differences between the Renaissance and the Baroque: how to distinguish them"

3. Rebellion against the rules in art

The romantics are against the rigidity of academicism promoted by the Enlightenment. They free art from standardizing rules, which led to a veritable explosion of artistic creativity., having an immense diversity of styles. Neither art nor romantic literature can be considered a unified style no matter how you look at it.

4. Cult of the self and individualism

Before the emergence of Romanticism, the artist had to create a work based on what had been entrusted to him. This piece of art had to be done at the designation of the patron, since he was the one who paid the order.

However, this is different in the mentality of the romantic. This artistic imposition is overcome, making the artist of this current make full use of his total freedom, and within that liberation he could focus on his own individuality.

So the romantics exalt the expression of the Self, claiming their individual identity. The subject is someone unique and different who is also part of a group, but within that community this individual must enjoy the same recognition.

5. Assessment of originality

Romanticism, while there are no limits to artistic creation, is also a period of great originality. Originality becomes an artistic assessment criterion, in which new things are intended to be done, leaving behind the idea that art must respond to tradition, continue it or perfect it.

6. The misunderstood genius

In the romantic movement the idea is sustained that the romantic artist is a misunderstood genius, whose imagination without limits, liberating creativity and tormented life makes him a character widely rejected by the society of his weather. This is in contrast to the idea of ​​the Renaissance genius, who is shown to be a very skilled man in his art., of impeccable handling of artistic techniques.

7. Sublimity

Romanticism puts the idea of ​​sublimity before the idea of ​​classical beauty, which was austere and orderly. Classic beauty was so balanced, so symmetrical that it had become predictable and stereotyped.

By cons, the romantic sublime implies finding beauty in what is most terrible and uncomfortable, in what is not pleasant, which leaves no one indifferent. Out of the murky and moving, great masterpieces can be made. 8. Exaltation of fantasy

The romantics give free rein to their fantasies, to their dream world. From the supernatural they extract all kinds of artistic expressions that can be material both for a fairy tale, with dream worlds, and horror stories, in nightmarish worlds. Even the line of what is morally accepted is exceeded, introducing in his thematic works very unorthodox, like taboos and satanic rituals.

9. Nostalgia for a better past

Being a critical movement with its historical period, in which it was an obvious fact that logic and reason enlightened had failed, Romanticism developed a strong nostalgia for an idealized past, seen as a time best.

The movement stood in opposition to the dramatic progress of the Industrial Revolution, which threatened to break the unity between man and nature.

It was very common to find in romantic works the exhibition of historical passages, especially focused on the Middle Ages or other periods such as contemporary time, which were somehow perceived as epochs top. In the case of French romantics, it was very recurrent to focus their gaze on the French Revolution, seen as a period of great change and splendor for the nation.

10. Interest in the Middle Ages and the Baroque

As we have commented, the romantics had a predilection for the past times, the Middle Ages being the period that was most represented. One of the reasons for this was that it is in this period that many peoples of Europe arose, whether due to the disintegration of the Roman Empire and creation of new Christian kingdoms or by mixing of cultures pre-Roman.

From the Middle Ages they extract as a symbol of great artistic representation their late medieval movement, the Gothic. This movement, full of darkness and shadows on the outside but bright colors on the inside, was seen by the romantics as the greatest exponent of spirituality and mysticism.

As for the Baroque, the romantics considered it as a movement of true liberation of the emotions, rich in effects and exuberance, principles closely related to the creative and expressive ideals of Romanticism.

11. Interest in the exotic

As their closest world was perceived as a hostile, unsuccessful and unwelcoming environment, romantics not only took refuge in the ideal of bygone ages, but also idealized distant worlds, especially the distant East.

They seek to break with the western tradition in the exotic seeing the non-European as a much better world. Orientalism and the Native American idea are two examples of this romantic interest in cultures. their idealization based on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept of the good savage is very remote, very skewed.

12. Interest in the landscape

The landscape is an element that cannot be missing in Romanticism. His writers, painters and musicians turn to him in two ways. The first is an effort to bridge the gap between human beings and nature, a distance motivated by socio-economic changes. The second is turn the landscape into a metaphor for the inner world of the subject.

Both forms are attacks against neoclassical rationalism, which in most of its compositions preferred interior and sober scenes, in order to get the viewer to focus their attention on the message exposed in the work and not be distracted by elements landscaping.

13. Popular culture

If the enlightened movement intended to standardize knowledge, considering that only culture in the hands of the most expert and enlightened characters was valid, the romantic movement will defend the search for knowledge through popular culture, seen as an inexhaustible source of knowledge. The wisdom of the people was stored in the folklore of each culture, transmitted from generation to generation through dances, sayings and legends.

14. Nationalism

The romantics are strongly nationalistic, insofar as they see this ideology as an expression of the collective self. It is not surprising that this happens, since Romanticism coincided with a historical moment in which nation states began to proliferate, staging themselves with the unification of Germany and Italy.

Nevertheless, one should not fall into the error of thinking that the romantics put their emphasis on the institutionality of the state, but in the identity of the people. The identity of that nation, its heritage and the sense of belonging are aspects that every romantic author introduced into his works.

15. Assessment of vernacular languages

Romantics highly value vernacular languages, especially using them as a means of nationalist expression. Language is the driving vehicle of national identity, popular culture and the collective self.

An example of this assessment is found in the abandonment of Italian as a language for singing opera, which even those centuries had been the norm, to go on to compose works in German, French, Spanish and English, between other

16. Death

Death It is an indispensable theme in romantic works, being approached from many points of view and, especially, the idea of ​​suicide. Taking his own life was an idea that every romantic author had to introduce at some point into his art, be it painting, novel or opera. This idea became especially present in this current thanks to the influence exerted by Goethe's novel Young Werther's Sorrows (1774).

17. Strong idealism

The romantic is idealistic by nature. He imagines that a better world is possible, not only on an artistic level, but also on a political and social level.

Living in a world perceived as the worst that could be lived, romantics believe that, in the future, things could get better, but for that to be possible, something must be done. For this reason it is common to find hundreds of romantic authors having participated in political causes and spiritual movements.

Representatives of Romanticism

There are many representatives of Romanticism, including both men and women. Then we will discover the names of some of them depending on the type of artistic work in which they stood out the most and some of the most representative works of him.

Writers

• Mary Shelley (1797-1851), Frankenstein (1829)
• Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), The Tell-Tale Heart (1843)
• Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), Les Miserables (1962)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774)
• Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870), The Count of Monte Cristo (1844)
• José de Espronceda (1808 - 1842), The Student from Salamanca (1840)
• Lord Byron (1788 - 1824), The Pilgrimages of Childe Harold.

Painters

• Francisco Goya (1746 - 1828) The dreams of reason produce monsters (1799)
• William Turner (1775 - 1851), Rain, Steam and Speed ​​(1844).
• Leonardo Alenza (1807 - 1845), The Romantics or Suicide (1837)
• Théodore Géricault (1791 - 1824), The Raft of the Medusa (1819)
• Eugene Delacroix (1798 - 1863), Liberty Leading the People (1830)
• Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), The Wayfarer on the Sea of ​​Clouds (1818)

Composers

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Symphony No. 9 (1824)
• Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Ellens dritter Gesang or Ave Maria (1825)
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856). Dichterliebe (Love and life of a poet) (1840).

Bibliographic references:

• Berlin, I. (2000). Hardy, Henry, ed. The roots of romanticism. Madrid: Taurus. ISBN 978-84-306-0369-5.
• De Paz, A. (1986). The romantic revolution; poetic, aesthetic, ideologies. Translation by María García Lozano. Madrid: Editorial Tecnos. ISBN 978-84-309-3960-2.
• Fay, E. (2002). Romantic Medievalism. History and the Romantic Literary Ideal. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave.