The Dark Romanticism - The Realm of Darkness

Romanticism, first defined as an aesthetic in literary criticism around 1800, gained momentum as an artistic movement in France and Britain in the early decades of the nineteenth century and flourished until mid-century. With its emphasis on the imagination and emotion, Romanticism emerged as a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789. In Romantic art, nature-with its uncontrollable power, unpredictability and potential for cataclysmic extremes offered something more than given reality.

The Dark Romanticism is primarily a 19th century literary movement. It is popularly known as a sub-genre of the larger Romantic Movement. This is because it retains and expounds several of the characteristics with the same movement.

Post Shakespearean era in Europe had several puritanical constraints as far as literature was concerned. The Classical literature of the age was governed by conventions and lacked freedom of thought and expression. This was the notion that began to be challenged with the onslaught of the French Revolution and industrialization. Consequently, literature too began to change hands - from Royalty to Common Man. The author of the Hymns to the Night, moreover, penned the still oft-quoted  and applicable credo of Romanticism : "By giving the common a higher meaning, the everyday a mysterious semblance, the known the dignity of the unknown, the finite the appearance of the infinite, I romanticize it".

The term "Dark Romanticism" can not be traced back to its origins, but above all, can be found in the literary studies. In Germany, the term is closely linked to the Professor of English literature Mario Praz and his 1930 book "La carne, la morte e il diavolo nella letteratura romantica". Edmund Burke wrote that: "All that stuns the soul, all that imprints a feeling of terror, leads to the sublime". The Dark Romanticism was mainly characterized by horrifying explicitness, emotional intensity and conspicuous lack of hero.

Young writers and artists increasingly devoted themselves to the downsides of reason. They did not consider the inexplicable and mysterious as problems but rather as incentives to set off in search of the fantastic realm beyond visible and measurable reality. The terrible, the wondrous and the grotesque.

The basic philosophy of the movement was a belief in man's spiritual essence and his souls ability to transcend the physical. Therefore, a collections of art began concentrating upon themes of horror, tragedy, the macabre and the supernatural. My theory is that those themes better represented the nature of human soul, the human that is not perfect, and the desire to play with the unknown. It also illustrated the horrific consequences of man's ideal.

In many European countries, many painters produced images after the French Revolution, which was basically the horrors of its aftermath. In Spain, artist such as Goya dramatically depicted the atrocities of slaughter in war, whereas humans became cannibals in the truest sense of the word. Goya also depicted the atrocities committed in the war towards the victims, most notably the innocent civilians : knifed and strangled, raped women and murdered children. The orgies of bestiality captured on paper are too terrible to contemplate. While in Germany, artist such as Caspar David Friedrich painted his masterful landscape panoramas. Most of German paintings were about the dark panoramas that brought a sense of horror to the audience.

Nightmarish visions, Apocalypse, Decadence, Doom, Satanic rites and somber death scenes speaks of loneliness and melancholy, passion and death, of the fascination with horror and irrationality of dreams. This was the general idea that challenged the reasons and beauty of Enlightenment movement.

La Vague- Carlos Schwabe

My personal favorite is Carlos Schwabe, with his painting entitled "La Vague" or "The Wave" (1907, oil on canvas, 196 x 116 cm)  in which he illustrates the horrors of human soul. A fascinating and yet deeply disturbing look at the terrorized and anguished human soul.  To be able to paint the horror of a human soul really requires the ultimate observation and technique. It is my personal believe that to be able to illustrate such a thing with superb precision truly consumes the whole ability of the painter. Something you will never find in the beauty of objects, which only depicts the sun, buildings, still panoramas and people. But here you have a human emotion. I think that Schwabe used an observation on several mad women before painting them into one unity.

Procession in the Fog-Ernst Ferdinand Oehme

The other personal favorite is Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, with his "Procession in the Fog". Here you have the perfect example of the mysterious and somewhat dark panorama of monks walking to perform their procession. The fog in early morning that covers the trees and some of the monks that are in front presents the whole mysteriousness of the scene. Oehme did not used many colors, especially the bright ones, and that really was the main factor in presenting the mysterious and dark atmosphere.

The Abbey in the Oakwood- Caspar David Friedrich

The other favorite is surely Caspar David Friedrich with his "The Abbey in the Oakwood". This is also perfect example of the mystery, darkness and death.  A procession of monks, some of whom bear a coffin, head toward the gate of a ruined Gothic church in the center of painting. Only two candles light their way. A newly dug grave yawns out of the snow in the foreground, near which several crosses can be faintly discerned. This lower third of the picture lies in darkness-only the highest part of the ruins and the tips of the leafless oaks are lit by the setting sun. The waxing crescent moon appears in the sky.

The Nightmare- Henry Fuseli

Last but not least is "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli. The canvas seems to seems to portray simultaneously a dreaming woman and the content of her nightmare. The incubus and the horse's head refer to contemporary belief and folklore about nightmares. Fuseli caused sensation with his depiction of a woman dressed in a nightgown lying prone over the edge of a bed with naked demon squatting on her stomach. The picture's impact was so intense that visitors with delicate constitutions were warned to not come too close to the painting.










Note: This blog is based on my readings of articles, books as well as my personal views.