Philipp Otto Runge
Phillip Otto Runge (1777-1810) was a Romantic German painter and
draughtsman. Although he made a late start to his career and died
young, he ranks second only to Friedrich among German Romantic painters.
Runge studied under Jens Juel at the Copenhagen Academy (1799-1801),
then moved to Dresden, where he knew Friedrich. In 1803 he settled
in Hamburg. Runge was of a mystical, pantheistic turn of mind, and
in his work he tried to express notions of the harmony of the universe
through symbolism of colour, form, and numbers. To this end he planned
a series of four paintings called The Times of the Day, designed
to be seen in a special building and viewed to the accompaniment
of music and poetry. He painted two versions of Morning (Kunsthalle,
Hamburg), but the others did not advance beyond drawings. Runge
was also one of the best German portraitists of his period; several
examples are in Hamburg. His style was rigid, sharp, and intense,
at times almost naive. In 1810 he published Die Farbenkugel (The
Colour Sphere) after doing several years of research on colour,
during which he corresponded with Goethe.
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