William Turner and the Roots of Modernism in Rhine Romanticism

Excerpts from the book “Landscapes for William Turner”

In painting, the term “landscape” did not exist until the 15th / 16th century. While the frescoes of Roman villas featured nature in their depictions of gardens, medieval art neglected it completely. It was the zeitgeist shift during the Renaissance that restored people’s interest in life before death, thus ringing in the radical changes that eventually led to the modern era. As people turned away from the afterlife, they began to explore nature, which led artists to incorporate perspective into their work. The element of landscape that had previously been perceived as dark and hostile was now elevated to a sublime means to express aesthetic beauty.

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Art gift book ‘Color Symphonies – Farbsymphonien’

In Memory of Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh

Book series LOUNGE 2 – volume VIII

Editor: Kurt Ries

While Gauguin and van Gogh were rather different people, they had some things in common. Besides frequently discussing Buddhist subjects, they shared an intense longing for the south, the sun, and the joy of exotic colors. After reading about the Marquesas Islands, Vincent, too, felt drawn towards the “savage”, now wanting to paint childishly simple pictures like those featured in old peasant calendars. Gauguin had only strengthened his convictions when talking about the suggestive expressiveness of colors.

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