Aesthetics of romanticism
Romanticism is a heterogeneous artistic trend in the history of world artistic culture. In different countries, it had its own distinctive features due to local historical conditions and cultural traditions. For example, in Italy it developed along the lines of traditional classicism. In France, it grew out of the sentimentalism or pre-romanticism of the Enlightenment. In Russia, it manifested itself in a mixed form a little later, organically absorbing the features of classicism.
In some countries, the influence of romanticism ceased already by the 1820s, and by the middle of the 19th century. it has become only a memory of the recent past. In the second half of the century, romanticism was widely supplanted by other artistic movements, but this did not mean that it ceased to exist. In the future, romanticism only transformed into other stylistic trends, for example, it manifested itself in the neo-romantic music of Richard Wagner, in the painting of the Pre-Raphaelites. Romanticism has much in common with the symbolists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He finds a peculiar embodiment in the art of modernity.
The word “romanticism” goes back to the Latin romanus – Roman, that is, arising on the basis of Roman culture or closely associated with it. Later, this word began to call a wide range of different phenomena. For example, it was associated with the concept of the genre of the novel, which usually described the sublime, fantastically implausible feelings of the heroes. Thus, the words “romantic” or “romanic” were taken as synonyms. There was also another interpretation of this term. In the Middle Ages, it indicated the belonging of a work written not in Latin, but in one of the new languages of the Romance group. At the same time, a special style of Romanesque architecture developed.
Over time, the word “romanticism” completely separated from its historical root and began to live an independent life. So, at the end of the XVIII century. it was taken up by young German writers and became the name of a new literary school that replaced sentimentalism and classicism.
Considering the world artistic culture in its historical development, we confine ourselves to a narrow, concrete understanding of romanticism as an artistic trend that took shape at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. and embracing almost all forms of art. It was at this time that the first theoretical and philosophical programs of romantics appeared.
The complexity and inconsistency of romanticism gave rise to many controversies that continue to persist in our time. But at the same time, it should be noted that with an obvious variety of ideological trends and creative manners within romanticism, it represented a single direction of artistic culture that met general aesthetic requirements and principles.
What are the main aesthetic principles of romanticism?
1. Rejection of real life, the desire to learn the unknown . The ideas of romanticism arose on the basis of dissatisfaction with reality, the crisis of the ideals of classicism, the desire to go into the world of ideal ideas, utopian dreams of the perfection of the world. Romantics, having experienced disappointment in the French Revolution, which did not justify their hopes, turned their eyes to the world of human feelings and experiences.
What is life when there is no charm in it?
It is bliss to know, to fly to him with the soul,
But the abyss ripens between him and between himself;
Desire every hour and tremble desires …
/IN. A. Zhukovsky “Singer” /
The constantly changing life opened up new horizons for human knowledge. The new, the unknown becomes the main subject of the image.
2. The oneness of the romantic hero (inner duality, loneliness in the real world, the search for the ideal and dreams, life in the sphere of emotions and feelings). The heroes of romantic works are not ordinary people in their daily life, but exceptional characters in exceptional circumstances. The romantic hero “feels in himself the courage to rush into the world at random, to bear all earthly sorrow and all earthly happiness, to fight the storms and not be shy at the crackle of a shipwreck” (Goethe). He can devote his whole life to the search for the “blue flower” – his dream and ideal.
In the real world, he feels uncomfortable and lonely. His personality is in constant opposition, conflict with the world around him.
I do not live in myself: I am only a particle of
That which is around me; the mountain peaks
excite me, and the capital city is
torture for me …
/ Translated by G. Shengeli /
So says Childe Harold – the hero of the poem by George Gordon Byron (1788-1824), who became the “new Hamlet” – a romantic symbol of the era. But this does not bother him at all, on the contrary, he loves his exclusivity and loneliness. Thus, in works of art, individualism becomes a kind of protest and self-defense of the hero.
If a person is not destined to change the cruel reality, then he can go into the world of fantasies, dreams and illusions.
Unlike a man of the era of classicism, the creator and arbiter of his own destiny, now the focus of attention is more often a person who has become a victim of a fatal coincidence of circumstances, living in the sphere of emotions and feelings. The interest in the emotional experiences of the hero, his passions, suffering and mental anguish distinguishes works of romanticism.
“The first refuge of the romantic heart” (V. V. Anikst) is the hero’s love. As a rule, there is no agreement between lovers, they are constantly forced to overcome obstacles, resolve conflicts, overcome alienation and distrust. Romantic love most often has a tragic outcome.
3. Nature as an expression of the spontaneous beginning of life, a prototype of Freedom . In the life of Nature, the romantic hero always sees the reflection of either his own soul, or the ideal life that is the subject of his dreams. The desire to merge with the natural element is characteristic of the romantic hero:
… Here, nothing hurts the eye
Among nature. Only one shame:
to be a ring in her bodily chain,
One of the creatures, and the soul
strives for space : to the mountains, to the stars, to the heavenly vault,
To the roaring ocean, to merge closely with them.
J. Byron. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
/ Translated by V. Levik /
A person is helpless and weak before the elements of Nature. The art of romanticism gives many examples of such a relationship between Man and Nature, and sometimes, on the contrary, presents us with peaceful, idyllic landscapes, reminiscent of gentle pastorals.
4. Cult of the past: idealization of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, interest in folklore . Historical epochs long gone, “the distance of times” have become an artistic metaphor for romantic art. In the distant past, romantics hoped to find harmony and beauty that did not exist in their modern world. Their art is full of valor and heroism, sublime love and noble chivalry. The idealization of the past is clearly expressed in M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “The Dying Gladiator” (1836), “the tales of deep antiquity” excite the imagination of the romantic hero:
Trying to drown out the last suffering,
You eagerly listen to the songs of antiquity,
And the magic tales of chivalric times – Unrealizable
dreams of mocking flatterers.
Romantics created their own original antique tradition, which was filled with a special, nostalgic sadness, which made up the emotional coloring of romanticism. Awareness of the frailty of everything living on earth, longing for the irrevocably leaving present and the uncertainty of the future are characteristic of the aesthetics of romanticism.
Medieval culture, which was rejected by classicism in the Age of Enlightenment, also underwent an original “rehabilitation”. Some were fascinated by the fictional idyll of the Middle Ages, others were looking for bright characters, strong and ardent passions in it, for others it became a symbol of national independence, an example of a selfless struggle for freedom.
The most distinctly medieval reminiscences manifested themselves in the neo-Gothic architecture of romanticism, which was distinguished by the refinement of architectural forms, skillful decoration of facades, openwork and fragility of multicolored stained glass windows. The largest public buildings were also created in the neo-gothic style – the Parliament buildings in London (architects C. Barry and O. Pujin) and in Budapest (architect I. Steindl). In the majestic outlines of these structures, attention is drawn to the spiers of the towers directed into the sky, pointed arches, and lush decorative decoration of the facades.
The art of romanticism is characterized by an interest in folklore. It is to the romantics that we owe the first collections of folk tales and folk songs.
The increased attention to the complex world of man, national color, historicism, as well as the rejection of real life, which determined the main conquests of romanticism, brought realism closer – another stylistic trend that developed in parallel in the artistic culture of the first half of the 19th century.
