Romanticism

Romanticism in the artistic sense is nothing like romanticism in today’s sense. It was a much stronger sense of thought and meaning. Romanticism involved thinking with logic and not just doing what you were told or thinking what you were told to think. It meant figuring things out for yourself because you thought that way. It was a school of thought that opened the minds of many to things that were previously beyond their reach. People were starting to delve into new ideas and sciences. Romantics were frowned upon for a while as they were so different and radical for their time. We have them to thank for their contribution to bring us up to speed as the way we are today. Artistic expression reflected these thoughts and ideas as this way the only outlet many people had to show the world what they were thinking or feeling. Painting became more thought provoking. Instead of profiles of famous people, we start to see groups of people discussing things or people depicted as doing book work of some kind. We may even see works of art showing people just sitting there, thinking. The range of expression was so different in that short period of time. The artwork changed so much, it is almost impossible to see that something big was happening during this time. Artists usually try to depict the things that are happening at that time. They may not have done this literally, but I think that it shows itself clearly in the pieces of art that have survived the times.