Carl Gustav Carus

Carl Gustav Carus (03.01.1789-1869) - one of the largest representatives of the German romantic landscape. His pictures are usually very small, clearly reveal to us the peculiar and in-depth look at the world, which was you -. Work at the beginning of the XIX century romantic philosophy.
Himself Carus "philosophizing" approach to art was inherent in a much greater extent than to any of the landscape of the era. Carus was not an artist by education and came to the painting from its already established, scientific and philosophical views. Famous Dresden natural scientist, . philosopher and physician, . he, . Like many prominent people of that time, . a spiritual universalism, . allows you to access different types of activities - science, . art, . literature - and each have their say.,

. Great example of this universality at the time was Goethe, combining a poet, artist and scientist
. But Goethe himself in a letter he wrote Carus: "Right, you soedinyate in their work so much personality traits, abilities, skills, deep vital link which is

surprise ". Their friendship and scientific communication, which began at a time when Carus was a young professor obstetrician in Dresden, continued until his death, Goethe. As you know, the merger, enriching the interpenetration of art and science was no less characteristic of the Romantic era than the treatment of art to the fairy tale, myth, fantasy. Romantic natural philosophy turned the idea of the universe, has given all the new, inspired by the support - and in the eyes of the Romantics specific science of nature filled with a new, mysterious and even poetic sense. Poet Novalis occupied the structure of rocks, the painter Runge engaged in physical theory of color, Carus in connection with its picturesque tasks set for the scientific study of atmospheric phenomena, the laws of formation and structure of clouds ...

. Romantic worldview placed face to face nature and man, seeing that, in another manifestation of a single and infinite spiritual principle
. The submission romantic spirit living unconsciously creative life in nature, generating the diversity of its forms, is manifested in man as the consciousness, the variety of feelings, thoughts, activities. Man feels in nature akin to a creature, apprehends and expresses it - both in science and in art, the spiritual essence of man tends to merge with the spiritual essence of the world. So no wonder the naturalist and artist of that era were so close to each other, and the most fruitful area of romantic art in Germany was just scenery.

. Carus, in the spirit of romantic philosophy, defines the relationship of art to science: science knows of, the art is subservient to the spirit of the whole, because the art itself is likened to a man partly unconsciously creative nature
. The truth is in combination. Scientific data gain the ultimate purpose of holistic artistic expression, and art, if it meets the goal, must be based on sound scientific knowledge. This combination of romantic and determined personality Carus.

As already mentioned, Carus never studied painting, he was self-taught. His first works directly related to his scientific pursuits - are the anatomical and botanical Studies. And only gradually appear interested in the landscape. But really their way into the art Carus found when he moved from Leipzig, where he graduated from the university in Dresden, and became acquainted with Caspar David Friedrich (in 1817). Frederick first discovered the specific language of a romantic landscape. Perhaps his paintings and landscapes can not be called in the traditional sense in which this genre was formed and existed before him in the European art. This is not a picture of areas - real or ideal - but, in the language of Romanticism, philosophical, spiritual contemplation in the form of visible nature. Carus found for this new kind of art symbol - he proposed to call it does not landscape, a "portrayal of the earth". He is so deeply perceived the principles of the art of Frederick, that on some pictures there is still a question - they belong to "teacher" or "disciple."

. Fascinated by Friedrich, in his footsteps, Carus in 1819, a journey to the island of Ruegen, where, as Frederick writes Seascapes
. The sea and sky in these paintings are the artist. As if to give an idea about the very nature of infinity. In the painting "Surf on Ruegen" shows only a narrow strip of rocky shores and large, monotonous walls towering waves to the horizon. Landscape affects its majestic solitude, the artist wanted to convey the nature of a great, powerful and deaf, so what she does, not what it normally perceives and adapts to their needs nereflektiruyuschy man. In the painting "Moon Night on Ruegen, artist, and removes the last prop - shore we see the sea so, . as it generally can not see the person, . - Water in the middle of the desert, . top, . like a passing close to gulls, and we can not tear his eyes from the outspread below us moonlight ripple marks,
. The artist gazes into the endless natural disasters and with great expectation, as would be looked into the face of man.

. What is endowed with the spirit of nature, like people, can have his "expression", consonant human feelings - the belief expressed by Carus in his theoretical and philosophical work "The nine letters on landscape painting"
. Such expressions - sadness, peace, renewal, etc. - give a picture of nature time of day, time of year. The susceptibility of the romantic artist, a belief in the internal relationship of nature and man, sees and in a certain combination of natural motivation is not an accident, and the symbols of the spiritual state. Imbued with this mentality, . we understand, . example, . idea of the artist in the film "The cemetery of the monastery Oybin" (1828): ruins of the church, . graves in the snow - is decay, . torpor, . nothingness; vysyaschiesya in the center of the composition mighty green spruce - a premonition of the coming revival.,

. In the work of Carus has a number of paintings directly on the topic of spiritual kinship and silent secret dialogue between man and nature
. In these pictures people do not naturally located in the bosom of nature, as in the classical landscape staffazh. He was always outside, looking at her from the window from opening, with a terrace, but combined with the landscape differently - empathy, commonality of the spiritual state. This is the "Lady on the Terrace" (1824), staring into the distance a bluish dawn. This is one of the most famous paintings Carus "Moving to barge over the Elbe" (1827). From the dark space covered barge, . eyes sitting here well-dressed young girl we are looking at the river shining in the distance on the opposite bank, . dissolving in the sunlight landscape with the silhouette of Dresden and penetrates her state of joyful expectation, . wind from darkness to light, . from everyday life - the miracle,
. And finally, one of the most original paintings Carus - Brц?hl Terrace in Dresden "(1830). Twilight. Fogs. Out of the mist, like a miraculous vision, there is a spiky silhouette of Dresden Hofkirchen. In the foreground at the parapet of the terrace - the figure vagrants or wanderers: sitting, as if in a daze, hunched old man, who clung to his knees a child at their feet lay a dog. Dreaming man, and the city is immersed in a fog, as in a dream. At this hour, they seem to merge with each other to no one waged a silent conversation, full of secret meaning.

Special theme woven into painting Carus motif of art, creativity. Painting "balcony in Naples" (1829-1830) is a bit like "Crossing the Elbe: from the room through the open balcony door, we see the sun-drenched town on the other side of the bay. It seems that lacks only one thing - staring into the distance this man, and it is true, there is no man, but is his song - set at the door violin. Also missing persons and another picture Carus "Artist's Workshop in the moonlight" (1826). Bright squares on a transparent window curtain crossed the dark silhouette of the easel and maulstick. And there are no contrasts, all immersed in the enveloping darkness, peace. Feels vague, vague, but the stress and mental state in which images are generated, and while sleeping mind and the will of the artist. Few managed to pass with such force very mysterious atmosphere of creativity than this natural scientist, professor and philosopher, who touched and transformed in the artist's spiritual impulse of Romanticism.