Painting and Sculpture from Late Romanticism to Historicism
When Symbolism emerged in the mid-19th century, it was less an artistic style than a state of mind, that accompanied the upheavals of industrialization. The philosophical end ofreligion propagated by Nietzsche was opposed by several new tendencies in the fine arts, such as mysticism, symbolism and a strict academicism that grew out of historicismand romanticism. On the other hand, realism and naturalism in particular became the signboards and distinctive marks of a social consciousness. In addition to the late Romanticism interest in portrait, genre studies, landscape depictions from the own region, classical antique themes were reinterpreted. The Wilhelmine period after the war of 1870-1871, also called the „Gründerzeit“, was marked by great social contrasts. Many commissioned works were created in public and private spaces, in lavish furnishings and sumptuous, richly ornamented decor. In German art, a competition began between the most diverse artistic positions, both within and outside the great academies in Munich, Dresden and Düsseldorf, of whose representatives we show some examples here.
