Romanticism is crucial to an understanding of modern Western culture.
Philosophy, art, literature, music and politics were all transformed in the
turbulent period between the French Revolution of 1789 and the Communist
Manifesto of 1848. This was the age of the ‘Romantic revolution’, when modern
attitudes to political and artistic freedom were born. When we think of
Romanticism, flamboyant figures such as Byron or Shelley instantly spring to
mind, but what about Napoleon or Hegel, Turner or Blake, Wagner or Marx,
who also emerged from this great period of turmoil and change.
