At the dawn of the 19th centurye century, artists, first in Germany, then throughout Europe, became passionate about sublime visions of a grandiose naturepowerful and destructive. Inspiring in turn fascination, melancholy, concern and terror, these paintings return man to the tragedy of his destiny, and reflect his passions and inner torments. The romanticismnicknamed “the evil of the century”, was born!
This movement – which has its roots in the Age of Enlightenment and the great political and spiritual revolutions of the time to invade all the arts – echoes a loss of bearings and disenchantment. Feeling overwhelmed and upset in their certainties, artists rejected the harmonious vision of man and nature that classicism advocated in order to express intense personal feelings… The result striking worksof which here is one superb anthology currently on display in Stockholm.
Victor Emil Janssen, Self-portrait at easelaround 1828
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Huile on paper marouflé on toile • 57 x 32 cm • Coll. Hamburger Kunsthalle • Photo bpk / Hamburger Kunsthalle / Elke Walford
Caspar David Friedrich, Two Men Gazing at the Moon1819-1820
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Oil on canvas • 33 x 44.5 cm • Coll. particular
Carl Friedrich Lessing, Rocky landscape in evening light1835
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Huile sur toile • 62 x 49 cm • Coll. National Museum, Stockholm • Photo Viktor Fordell / National Museum
Marcus Larson, Rough sea1857
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Oil on canvas • 88.5 x 127 cm • Coll. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Johan Christian Dahl, The Morning After the Storm1819
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Huile sur toile • 74.5 x 105.3 cm • Coll. Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich • Photo Sibylle Forster / Bavarian State Painting Collections
Léon Cogniet, Head of a woman and child, sketch for the Scene of the Massacre of the Innocents1824
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Oil on canvas • Coll. Museum of Fine Arts, Orléans • Photo Olivier Fleygnac
Johann Theodor Goldstein, View of a Gothic cathedral1822
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Huile sur toile • 83.5 x 89.5 cm • Coll. National Museum, Stockholm • Photo Anna Danielsson / National Museum
Peder Balke, View of Stockholm in the moonlight19th century
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Oil on canvas mounted on wood • 125 x 158 cm • Coll. The Gundersen collection • Photo The Gundersen collection / Morten Henden Aamot
Leif Engström, Spruce 12016
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Huile et acrylique sur toile • 166 x 177 cm • Photo Jessika Thörnqvist & Kim Ramberghaug
On the left, “The Rising Tide” by Ann Frössen, 2024. On the right, Mariele Neudecker. View of the installation in the exhibition “The Romantic Eye”
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Photo Viktor Fordell / National Museum
From September 26, 2024 to January 5, 2025
www.nationalmuseum.se
Musée national de Stockholm • 2 Södra Blasieholmshamnen • 111 48
www.nationalmuseum.se
