Neo-Romanticism “Characteristics of neo-romanticism include the expression of strong emotions such as terror, awe, horror and love." Neo-Romanticism is an art movement that begins around 1880 and continues to the present day. It is defined by three key characteristics:

•  1. A criticism of modern society as disconnected from nature
•  2. A wish or desire for a Utopian connection to nature, uncoupled from social expectations and tradition
•  3. A rejection of the dichotomy between society and nature. Neo-Romanticism is classified by academics based upon its subject content, which is mentioned in characteristic #1 above.

If you look at this painting by George Edmund Butler, Bellevue Ridge (1918), you can see a desolate landscape marred by craters. The Neo-Romantics, inspired by the harsh critique of society by the Realists, applied this to their depictions of nature, showing it as a victim of human industry and civilization. This depiction of landscapes as desolate and scarred are classic features of Neo-Romantic artists, and exemplifies the 1st characteristic of Neo-Romanticism as a critique of a society that feels no connection to the natural world that it victimizes.

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Now, if we look at Henri-Edmund Cross's painting Le Bois (1906), we see a stark contrast to Butler's bleak and lifeless landscape. Cross depicts human figures, freed from culture and industry rooted, in a natural setting. Unlike the romantics who depicted native peoples in their worship of nature, the Neo-Romantics, like Henri-Edmund Cross or John Minton, chose subjects in their landscapes in more intimate settings and unconnected to tradition or social norms. This painting represents characteristic #2 from above as it shows an Utopian world where figures exist completely free of needs, like Eden.The simple white dress of the sitting figure and the blankets on the ground set the figures as modern subjects, rather than tribal or futuristic individuals. This feature represents characteristic #3: the rejection of the dichotomy of society and nature. The figures are modern and yet connected to nature, symbolizing the rejection of choosing between civilization and nature.

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Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality". Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory