Uncertainty
Romanticism stemmed and flourished from the creativity and freedom that artists had. Unlike Enlightenment, Romanticism allowed artists to use their own creativity in whatever ways they wanted. This produced a wide variety of outcomes that vary from creative, unknown, romantic, and even gore.
The image below is called Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and was created by Caspar David. All the painting shows is a man standing on rocks staring out into an abyss covered in fog, but the meaning is much deeper than that. “It portrays an emotional state: ideas of infinity and roaming, of the imperfection of the soul and of its emotions.” This picture describes the Romanticism movement perfectly due to the fact that art was raw and emotions were just starting to be discovered in artwork.
In relation to modern day culture both the painting and culture relate to uncertainty. Right now the world is facing tons of uncertainties, the upcoming election, covid, and Black Lives Matter movements are the top three. The state of infinity and roaming ties these topics together because currently the world is in a very vague state. A vague state is a form of uncertainty which means there isn't necessarily an end in sight.
Romanticism has many different styles of artwork, but for the most part not all of them include certainty and have a happy ending. This currently directly relates to modern day culture even though the movement was over a hundred years ago.
I like this topic of Romanticism I should have taken a look at it. The fact that people were allowed to be creative in their own way is such a beautiful think, especially in a world like this one. Your connection with uncertainty was very interesting because its true, I was just talking about this the other day. Its kind of scary, all that's going on in the world right now. Everyone is talking about "I want things to go back to normal" but this might be the new normal. Another thing is the new normal might be something better than what we are accustomed to. I always say we need to struggle a little before things get better, kind of like how in life how you need to fail to learn. Maybe we need more protest and voices heard before change can be made but its like how many more voices? Also with Covid, how many more deaths?
ReplyDeleteHello Nora,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. It very concisely distills this work of art's core themes of turbulence and changeability applies them effectively to the modern day. The fact that uncertainty is a given is nothing new, I think, but it certainly seems to permeate the current social and political climate. It was also a nice touch to contrast this artistic movement with the Enlightenment in the beginning of your post.
Hello Nora, that is such an interesting approach and I enjoyed reading your blog. I would most certainly compare this blog to the current situation that we are going through as a civilization, from politics to racism which paints a portrait of uncertainty because as of right now everything is in shambles if I may say so. Another uncertainty that is less talked about is the climate because we see more weather catastrophic events than ever, so thank you Nora for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHey Nora, I enjoyed reading your blog about Romanticism and comparing it to modern day civiliazation tthat we're living in with politics. Everything you said about today's life is true because the world is dealing with something we aren't used to which is COVID and for most people it's hard to adjust to this pandemic and everyone wants things to go back to normal but we won't know when that will happen.
ReplyDeleteHi Nora! I love the painting you chose to analyze. When I see it, it brings me back to middle school and I remember learning about the Romanticism period and my English teacher having us analyze that exact painting. It is interesting to see it come back up. My perception of uncertainty, then vs now, is much different. No matter what period I have been in, in my own life, I have felt uncertainty.
ReplyDeleteHey Nora! I really enjoy reading this blog! I've been seeing that painting everywhere but only after I read this text that I learned the meaning behind it. I also like this quote of yours "A vague state is a form of uncertainty which means there isn't necessarily an end in sight." Good work!
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