Romanticism

An innovative English artist, one of the first representatives of Romanticism, who was unknown during his lifetime but had a great influence on the development of European avant-garde art. William Blake is better known to the general public as a poet, whose works reflected original philosophical views, but the images of the master’s paintings and graphic works are not less deep and bright.

A Polish artist and teacher, one of the brightest and most emotional representatives of Slavic Symbolism and one of the founders of Art Nouveau in his country. In Poland, the Museum of Contemporary Art named after Jacek Malczewski, the branch of which is located in Radom, the hometown of the artist, has been opened.

A Swedish artist and writer, one of the first modernists in his country. Gösta Adrian-Nilsson, who signed his paintings with the acronym GAN, was a comprehensively gifted person. He painted in various avant-garde styles, was an active member of the German progressive group Der Sturm (Storm, Berlin), created talented illustrations for the works of his contemporaries, and also wrote his own poems and fairy tales for children. A great admirer of Oscar Wilde in his youth, Adrian-Nilsson adored the decadent movement of the late 19th century, but at the beginning of the next century joined German Expressionists, Italian Futurists, and later French Cubists, making a considerable contribution to the spread of these art movements in his homeland.

An English Symbolist painter and sculptor, master of allegorical and mythological paintings, mural master and portraitist popular in his time. Watts is considered one of the most mysterious, prolific and exceptional artists of the Victorian era. He was awarded the knighthood and the title of academician of the Royal Academy of Arts. In Compton (Guilford), the artist and his wife themselves created a gallery, which was renovated and expanded at our time. In the estate Limnerslease, the museum of G. Watts, studios and workshops for the artists were opened.

A Belgian Symbolist painter, graphic artist, a vivid representative of the avant-garde art of Belgium.The parents of the future master kept a souvenir shop. Therefore, the artist's childhood passed among various ancient items, masks and statuettes. This left a big imprint on his work.He is known for his satirical canvases depicting the shortcomings of the society and human vices. The creation of the society of artists "Les XX", in which he was directly involved, contributed to the formation of many young talents. The outstanding artist was elevated to the rank of a national hero and was awarded the baronial title in his motherland. James Ensor is the most famous national painter of Belgium of the beginning of the twentieth century, who gained worldwide recognition.

A French artist, one of the most prominent representatives of the first wave of Symbolism. Painting mythological plots and not recognizing Impressionism that was popular at the end of the 19th century, Gustave Moreau was one of the leading painters of his time. As a talented teacher, he educated a whole galaxy of outstanding artists who admired his extraordinary vision of color and form, stunning intelligence and outlook. Without exaggeration, we can say that the work of Gustave Moreau determined the direction of development of painting in Europe and served as a kind of bridge between classical painting and the art of the future.

An English painter and illustrator, close to the Pre-Raphaelites in spirit, one of the prominent representatives of the movement "Arts and Crafts".He was famous for his stained glass; also, he worked in other crafts: designed jewelry, ceramic tiles and tapestries. He was knighted (1894), supported the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Aesthetic Movement.

A Swiss painter and graphic artist, an outstanding representative of the European Art Nouveau.The artist was born into a poor family of a carpenter and a peasant woman, he was the eldest of six children. When Hodler was eight years old, he lost his father and two younger brothers. His mother Margaret married a widower with five children; her stepfather was an artist and designer and became the first teacher for Ferdinand – when he was nine years old, he was put to work, helping his stepfather draw simple signs. The boy continued his studies in the town of Thun, where his teacher was a local painter Ferdinand Sommer.Ferdinand Hodler is known as the author of the original artistic method - parallelism, which later became one of the main in the style of art nouveau. He created several monumental canvases and decorative panels adorning public buildings in Switzerland and Germany, thus making a significant contribution to historical painting. Hodler's art was a success among his colleagues; his works were admired by such great artists as Puvis de Chavannes and Gustav Klimt, as well as sculptor Auguste Rodin. The artist was a participant in the mystical Rosicrucian order and exhibited his paintings at the Symbolist Salon "Rose and Cross."

An outstanding Austrian artist of Jewish origin, a decorator, a master of monumental painting, who played a big role in the development of Art Nouveau.His father was a hereditary jeweler from Bohemia, but did not have a stable income. His mother, Anna Finster, was a studious but not very successful musician. Gustav was the second of seven children of a Jewish family. Klimts were poor, in the early years of the Habsburg Empire, the work was not enough, especially for ethnic minorities. At an early age, Gustav and his two brothers, Ernst and Georg, showed their obvious artistic talents, and Gustav was noted as an exceptional draftsman.Gustav Klimt was one of the founders of the Vienna Secession - the association of progressive artists who protested against traditional painting. He became the first President of the Secession and the organizer of exhibitions of the society. Since 1898, Klimt had been collaborated with the art magazine named "Sacred Spring", in which the works of Symbolists Beardsley, Moreau, Puvi de Chavannes were published. The artist's work, aimed at introducing avant-garde trends in Austrian painting, played a key role in the development of the country's fine arts of the early twentieth century.

An English artist, an active member of the art group "New School".Percy Robert Craft was born into a wealthy family, received a good home education. In the 1870s, he studied painting at the Hetarli Art School and at the London School of Arts Slade.He directed the Newlyn Artists' Dramatic Society in Newlyn Artists, assisted Thomas Gotch in organizing the Newlyn Industrial Classes (classes of applied arts), where local teenagers were invited for training. He was the organizer and constant participant of expositions at the London Royal Academy of Arts, as well as at the newly formed Royal British Colonial Society of Artists.

A Russian artist of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, an academician.Mikhail was born into the family of a professional military lawyer and adjutant of the Separate Siberian Corps. He tried to draw from the age of five.The phenomenally gifted Vrubel created works in almost all genres and types of fine art: in painting and drawing, theatrical art and decorative sculpture, monumental painting and even architecture - the mansion of S. Mamontov, the church in Talashkino, the pavilion at the World Exhibition in Paris were designed by Mikhail Vrubel.

Thomas Cooper Gotch was an English artist, a prominent representative of the first wave of a famous creative colony - the Newlin School of painting.Born into a Victorian well-to-do family of a middle class, was the fourth son. His family members were engaged in the production and sale of shoes, and Thomas worked for some time in the shoe store after school.He was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, became the organizer of the School of Applied Arts (Newlin Industrial Classes), which trained teenagers from the surrounding villages, a founding member of the Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, and also participated in the creation of the New English Art Club. Apart from the plot paintings, he created portraits, which brought the greatest income, and landscapes, illustrated books.

An Impressionist artist and teacher, a member of the National Academy of Design, a chairman of the Society of American Artists.Born into the family of a successful merchant. From childhood, he was interested in painting, attending art classes of portrait painter Barton Hayes. His father planned to involve his son in the family business, but the young man was seriously interested in painting and decided to devote his life to it.William Merritt Chase developed his original style, becoming the ancestor of a new style in American painting. He was a member of the Impressionist group “Ten”, which was an alternative to the officially recognized art and promoted progressive trends in painting.He was known as a talented mentor, worked as a teacher of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, founded his own art school.William Chase was a successful artist. His creations were recognized by critics and popular among the public; numerous students developed and continued the artistic traditions of the master, creating contemporary, avant-garde, modernist art.

A Brazilian artist, one of the leaders of Brazilian avant-garde painting.She was the second daughter of an Italian engineer and American B. Krug, an art teacher who initiated the artistic and cultural education of her youngest daughter. The future artist was born with atrophy of the right hand. Three-year-old Anita was sent to Lucca (Italy) to correct the defect, but to no avail. The girl learned to draw with her left hand under the guidance of American teacher Marcia Brown.The exhibition of 53 paintings by the artist in 1917 is the first in the history of the fine arts of this country, where works in the style of expressionism with elements of cubism and other latest trends were presented. She was the organizer of the landmark festival "Week of Art", a member of the progressive art group "Five".

A famous Swedish painter, graphic artist and sculptor, Zorn was a popular portrait painter. His paintings were ordered by famous politicians, artists and businessmen. The artist worked a lot with watercolor, enjoyed etching. Zorn's creations - portraits, landscapes and engravings – are full of strength and freshness, excellent air and light transmission, simplicity and, at the same time, special dignity and nobility. The artist had a great influence on the development of Russian art.

German artist, graphic artist, sculptor, engraver and architect. He worked in the styles of historical Romanticism, Symbolism and Early modern.In 1892, he became one of the founders of the influential "Society of Berlin Artists", organized exhibitions. He was a member of the Munich Secession, a member of the newly formed Viennese Secession and a professor of the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig (since 1897), an honorary member of the Stockholm Academy, had the title of Knight of the Order Pour le merite.A real sensation was the early cycles of 1878 on the theme of the deeds of Christ and Fantasy about the glove. M. Klinger called the depicted "cycles" (events with imaginary fantastic and symbolic realities) "opuses", equating them to musical works.In treatise "Painting and Drawing", which was published in 1891, the author gives an independent meaning to the depiction of the fantastic external world. At the same time, Klinger believed that it was peculiar to the graphics to express such scenes most clearly. Fantasy (a painted story) about the glove is rightly defined by experts as the first Surrealist work. The graphic cycle of "Drama", depicting the revolution of 1848 and the tragedy of the urban "bottom," outlines the line of Social Expressionism.M. Klinger's contribution to sculpture was also original: trying to revive the technique of polychrome plastics, he used various marbles, ivory and gold, bronze and painted alabaster.According to the figurative definition of art, Klinger was "from the family of Durer and Holbein." This is a mournful thoughtfulness, a dramatic pathos, and a contemplative dream. His symbols always embody great feelings and great thoughts.A House-Museum was opened in the artists hometown.

A German artist, graphic illustrator and designer, master of monumental painting.He was born into the family of an influential Prussian statesman in the German city of Darmstadt. Since 1890, Hoffmann lived in Berlin as a free artist.Ludwig von Hoffmann was a member of avant-garde group "Eleven", an active participant of cultural movement "Berlin Secession" and the representative of "Neue Sachlichkeit" (new materiality), the artistic trend of the 1920s, the founder of the "New Weimar" movement. As a teacher, he worked at the art school in Weimar and at the Dresden Academy of Arts, where he directed a class of monumental painting. It was Hoffman who owned the ideas of the spiritual and practical revival of the postulate "art and life are in the context of each other."Among the admirers of the master's work, there were many famous people. for example: Austro-Hungarian Empress Elizabeth, writers Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann and Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

A French painter, portraitist, graphic artist and sculptor, a founder of the first modernist movement - Impressionism (along with Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro). He is deservedly considered the author of a sentimental portrait.

French painter, a bright representative of the new art, which influenced the emergence and development of such a modernist trend as Cubism. Cezanne is also called the primitive artist in the new painting.The future artist was born in a well-to-do family of a pawnbroker, and then a big banker, Louis Auguste Cezanne. In his youth, Paul was interested in art and literature. He received a good education, excelling in exact sciences and languages. Thanks to the excellent memory, he could memorize whole works of the classics.During his life, Cezanne created over 800 oil paintings, as well as a number of watercolor works. Some of them were destroyed by the artist himself.

Leon Bakst (real name - Leib-Khaim Izrailevich Rosenberg) was a Russian artist of Jewish origin, designer, illustrator and set designer,.He was born into the family of a small merchant, an orthodox Jew. Samuel Rosenberg, his father, was known as an authoritative expert on the Talmud, was adopted by his father-in-law Buster in order to circumvent the law on the Pale of Settlement and ensure the transfer of his only daughter to St. Petersburg.He showed himself as an interesting painter, in particular - a portrait master. The most famous were the portrait of philosopher V. Rozanov, depicted with a statue of Isis, the plot "Portrait of S. Diaghilev with his old nanny," a lyrical portrait of Pavel Tretyakov's daughter Lyubov Gritsenko-Bakst.Leon Bakst worked equally in St. Petersburg and Paris. He was a master of easel painting, in particular, portrait genre, theatrical graphics. An active member and organizer of the association "World of Art", designed theatrical and art projects of S. Diaghilev for many years. The artist became one of the trendsetters of the European fashion for orientalism and suit exotics in the first quarter of the 20th century.

A prominent German artist, graphic artist and portrait painter, a master of monumental painting.Along with Arnold Becklin, historical painter Anselm von Feuerbach and younger artist, decorator and sculptor, Franz von Stuck, he is a prominent representative of German Symbolism and the forerunner of Art Nouveau in the local meaning of the term.

A Swiss painter, graphic artist and sculptor. The representative of the Dusseldorf School of Art. One of the outstanding founders of Symbolism in European visual art, the author of the very famous painting “The Island of Death”.The works of Böcklin, in the words of the master himself, "encourage thinking". However, not complicated intellectuality and speculative secrecy of feelings, but emotionality is the basis of the ideas of the author, a true romantic of the spirit. That is why the art of Arnold Böcklin turned out to be close to the masters of Symbolism, who singled out this facet of Böcklin's talent.

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Courbet’s paintings from the late 1840s and early 1850s gave him his first recognition.Courbet’s early works bordered on Romanticism. His landscapes, seascapes, hunting scenes, nudes and still lifes are characterized by a peculiar, temperamental perception of nature and dark, saturated color. The main character was the artist himself. Courbet paid particular attention to the transfer of acute characteristics and the plasticity of shapes. He preferred to paint on toned canvases, moving from darker to lighter tones and enlivening the brightest places with sharp glares. “In my paintings, I do what the sun does in nature”, – the artist wrote.

A small picture, made on a mahogany board, was created based on a drawing from the series “Heads of ghosts”. Blake, who had various visions since childhood, saw this horrifying image and painted it on the paper in the presence of the famous astrologer and artist John Varley.

Many of William Blake’s paintings are illustrations of his literary works. “The Song of Los” is one of the poems included in the cycle “Prophetic books” in which the author created his fantastic Universe and a complex philosophical system.

The work is based on the biblical story of the resurrection of Christ. The scripture says that when Mary Magdalene entered the tomb, she saw two soaring angels, but the body of Jesus was nowhere to be found.

The monotype with the addition of ink and watercolours is an illustration of the Book of the Prophet Daniel, which tells of King Nebuchadnezzar II. This Old Testament king was punished by the Almighty for pride and was forced to wander alone, turning into a wild beast.

The painting belongs to a series of illustrations for the Bible, which the artist created between 1805 and 1810. The plot of the work is taken from the 12th chapter of the Apocalypse, which tells about a woman ready to give birth to a child, and a dragon who is going to devour him as soon as he is born.

Like many works of William Blake, this one is on a biblical theme. It illustrates the prophecy from the Gospel of Matthew, which says that a trumpeting angel heralds the coming of the Last Judgment, and pious virgins humbly wait for it, while the foolish ones panic and fall to the ground with fear.

The artist depicted famous scientist Isaac Newton sitting on a stone and completely immersed in his scientific research. William Blake criticized modern science rejected Newton's optical theory, considering it lifeless.

Hecate is an ancient Greek goddess of moonlight, the other world, all mysterious and fantastic, as well as all kinds of magic and witchcraft. She was often called the “goddess of the three roads” and depicted in the form of three figures, tied to each other with their backs and looking in different directions.

To create the work, William Blake used a unique technique of “luminous printing”, thanks to which light figures on a dark gray-green background look mystical and mysterious. Unlike other works of the artist, which are illustrations for literary works, the plot of this picture does not have a specific source.

Blake's most recognizable painting, which has become one of the symbols of Freemasonry. At the center of the work, there is the Creator, whom Blake called the coined name Urizen creating the Earth with the help of a huge compass.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Dimensions: 174 x 240 cm. Location: National Museum, Poznan.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Dimensions: 139 x 240 cm. Location: National Museum, Poznan, Poland.

Location: private collection.

Mediums: tempera, cardboard. Location: Private collection of A. Ketikyan, Montreal, France.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Location: Russell-Cote Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, the UK.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Location: private collection.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Location: private collection.

Mediums: oil, canvas.

Location: Romanian National Museum of Art, Bucharest.

Mediums: oil, canvas. Location: Romanian National Museum of Art, Bucharest.