Romantic art is a composite style of art that spans its origin from the European and American society. Romantic art such as paintings are normally portrayed as visionary and imaginative having some emotional feelings as opposed to Neo-classic art which posses a single style or attitude. Although the Romantic art is deemed as dealing with things that are “romantic”, it has very little to do with love and romantic relationships because this subject is only applied occasionally. Whereas Neo-classical art is deemed as tranquil and confined in emotion and very open and complete in its expression, Romantic art strategically attempts to depict by implication states sensation too intense, elusive, or even mystical to be defined literally (Brooklyn). Thus, artists like Francisco Goya (1746-1828, displayed their love of nature in their choice of theme, mainly the mystifying aspects of nature which are likely to probe the wonders or passions in humans. In this light, the following paragraphs discuss the various works of Goya that made him fit into romanticism.
Goya was an artist who started his work as a court painter for the Spanish Crown. His paintings were predominantly sarcastic and thus raised social commentary on the evolution of realism movement. He was commissioned to paint the royal family of the then Charles IV of Spain. His main themes were concentrated on cartoons, war scenarios, and corpses. One of his works is The Maja – 1804, which comprises of The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja. The printings show a lady in the same pose although naked and dressed respectively. The first painting depicted a nude woman in the Western art and the second painting was painted after controversial thoughts from the Spanish society over the meaning of The Nude Maja. (Deviant Art).These paintings visualize the unattainable power, beyond the limits of society anticipations and human adaptability, thus romanticism.
In his work, The Third May – 1808, Goya recorded the unprecedented shooting of Spanish citizens who were suspected of complexity. The painting depicts Spaniards as praying with covered eyes and eyes, hence a Romanticism touch. Although, Goya did not witness the incident, the work was used as a commentary to give expression of one of the most triumphant moments of the country’s struggle. It served as a commemoration of the Spanish resistance to the armies of Napoleon in the year 1808. In essence, this painting’s presentation and emotional touch preserved its status as an extraordinary image of the disasters of war (The Art World). In this context, Romantic art is seen as representing the mind’s attitude rather than a set of certain traits in styles and thus entails the expression of an idea that seems to posses a verbal origin as opposed to a visual one.
Another most ground taking work of Goya is A Dog (1820 – 1823). It is one of the Black Paintings series and thus the work can be analyzed as his vision to the end of an error and a start or rather prediction of another. In this painting, all the elements of the universe or matter are dissolved, leaving a dog’s head. In addition, the painting is divided into two sections: an upper, dirty sky and a lower dark brown section. At the lower section, there is a dog’s head and this tends to bring about different interpretations. One of such interpretation is that it depicts the way humans struggle against supernatural forces, without success; they then seek divine intervention. As represented in A Dog, Romantic art is essentially serious, defies ordinary probability, changes the meaning of classical precedent as a myth of origin and is skeptic about ordinary alienated human language.
Therefore, the works of Goya has raised many interpretations since they depict many aspects of Romanticism including emotions, love, and supernatural power. Consequently, his paintings such as The Maja, The Third May, and A Dog have redefined how people have come to visualize and perceive themselves in the world because of the imaginative and emotional nature.
Works Cited
Brooklyn. Romanticism. 2009. Web.
The Art World. Art Movement in Art History: Romanticism. 2009. Web.
Deviant Art. Goya: A Romantic Artist. 2009. Web.