Period Ideas

Enlightenment - Comparisons Romanticism

Research and written by: Michael J. Spindler


The authors of this paper will introduce the reader to five areas of humanities, art, music, architecture, philosophy and literature of the Enlightenment and the Romantic period. The examples chosen are intended to reflect the developments and forces that affected world events and examples of how these cultural models cast. This evolution of Humankind view of the world and the place of humans in the world profoundly affected the following century and the progress of modern man in today's society.

Art has always been a reflection and interpretation of an artist in the world around the artists. During the Age of Enlightenment, there were five major types of artistic movements, neoclassicism, romanticism, naturalism French, French Realism and Impressionism. society "in part a reaction against baroque and rococo excesses, neo-classicism is associated in France with a return to" virtue "and an acceptance of the new ideological requirements of the French Revolution." (Boguslawski, 2005) The art form of enhanced responsibilities with honor, duty, and most importantly, patriotism.

Impressionism in the Age of Enlightenment ready for a play of light within the common themes. Claude Monet is perhaps the best example. Although not politically inspired, impressionism allows the viewer to spend time reflecting on the beauty and the play of color and lighting.

"Artists romantic interpreted things through their own emotions and those emotions included social and political consciousness - as one might expect in a period of revolution which has reacted so strongly to oppression and injustice in the world ". (Department of English, Brooklyn College, 2001) Despite the romantic term, the period was a time of revolution and social upheaval that society at all levels have struggled for a voice and a place in a changing world . In all areas of expression, the period has been a movement away from rationalism towards an exploration of human nature. Emotions become both subject and object of art forms most popular in this period. Rather than simply choosing a specific work of art, for writers is to enlighten the reader to the influences and motivations of the artists of this period, rather than describing how a portrait can be influenced few.

Music in the Enlightenment has been immortalized in the works of Amadeus Mozart. Although possessed of a young age, he was the diversity and the necessity that forced Mozart to reach its potential. Most musicians of the period were the use of churches and royalties. The free lance Mozart directed, lent to freedom of expression ... "This step in the direction of artistic and intellectual freedom is a central element of the Enlightenment." (Donelan, 1999) is interesting, of Mozart's work may have reinforced its commitment to the ideas of the Enlightenment, while the sense of subversion is also expressed at the time.

Mozart was not easily impressed, which was made up for Ludwig van Beethoven Mozart in 1787. Beethoven had a strange glow around him, so he went through a number of instructors, some composers most memorable stories of the day. Beethoven's hearing loss has been a gradual deterioration over a period of 16 years from 1801. Around the year 1802, his hearing loss opened new doors in its composition. Compositions have been written that challenged the traditional conceptions of music of the era. "The influence of Beethoven on the following composers has been immeasurable. Besides its architectural innovations and expansion of the classical sonata and symphony, he brought to music a new depth and intensity of the emotion.