Romantic Art Research Paper

Romantic art was expressed by individualism, irrationalism, creativity, emotions and nature. During this time, emotion was considered more important over reason along with the senses over intellect. Since artists during this period were in revolt against the orders, they favored the revival of potentially unlimited number of styles, which pretty much can be considered as anything that they liked or anything that pleased them. This artistic concept, which emerged as individual experience, showed specific love of exotic or foreign subjects, bright colors, and a dramatic use of light and line. Romantic artists often explore themes of passion, imagination, and the subconscious.
Albert Bierstadt tended to use large canvases, hence the size of the
However, although religious painting, history painting, fables, and portraits were still considered the most influential pieces, portraits, landscape and still life scenes were also very common. Baroque art also uses rich and deep color, and intense light and dark shadows, just like Albert had created and favored in his. In Nativity by Josefa de Óbidos, Josef, like Bierstadt, uses rich colors like dark reds and blacks to emphasize mood and feel. Although this is a religious image and not like the landscapes and portraits that Bierstadt does, it is from Obidos' creation of the image from his mind, which is widely used in the romantic era. He, like Bierstadt, once again, shows to use of light, as the single candle lights up the room and creates the aura around the child in the center of the picture. The use of shadows also very closely resembles the use of clouds and atmospheric elements of Bierstadt's painting.
As opposed to Renaissance art, which usually showed the moment before an event took place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, the moment when the action was occurring. For instance, in Michelangelo's David (Renaissance), it shows him calm and still before he battles Goliath, but in Bernini's Baroque David is caught in the act of hurling the stone at the giant. Baroque art was meant to show emotion and passion instead of the calm poses and tranquility