Romanticism

A movement in Western art of the 19th century generally assumed to be in opposition to Neoclassicism and much associated in America with Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School of painting between 1820 and 1880. Romantic painters treat the landscape as though it has symbolic meaning far beyond its obvious geographical features. Cole and his followers believed that natural features were created by God, and that a quiet, reverent artist could find God in nature, especially in wilderness areas, and then transfer symbolically resulting inspirations to canvas. Romantic works are marked by intense colors, turbulent emotions, complex composition, soft outlines and sometimes-heroic subject matter. Source; Andrew Wilton and Tim Barringer, "American Sublime: Landscape painting in the United States, 1820-1880" <br><br> A European movement of the late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century. In reaction to neoclassicism, it focused on emotion over reason, and on spontaneous expression. The subject matter was invested with drama and usually painted energetically in brilliant colors. Delacroix, Gericault, Turner, and Blake were Romantic artists.