Philipp Otto Runge (; 1777–1810) was a German artist, a draftsman, painter, and color theorist. Runge and

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landsca ...

are often regarded as the leading painters of the German Romantic movement.Koerner, Joseph Leo. 1990. ''Caspar David Friedrich and the Subject of Landscape.'' Yale University Press. New Haven, Connecticut. 256 pp. Rauch, Alexander. 2000. ''Neoclassicism and the Romantic Movement: Painting in Europe between Two Revolutions 1789 – 1848.'' pages 318–479. in Tomam, Rolf, editor. ''Neoclassicism and Romanticism: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Drawings, 1750-1848.'' Könemann, Verlagsgesellschaft. Cologne. 520 pp. He is frequently compared with

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...

by art historians, although Runge's short ten-year career is not easy to equate to Blake's career.Connelly, Frances S. 1993. ''Poetic Monsters and Nature Hieroglyphics: The Precocious Primitivism of Philipp Otto Runge.'' Art Journal. 52(2): 31-39. By all accounts he had a brilliant mind and was well versed in the literature and philosophy of his time. He was a prolific letter writer and maintained correspondences and friendships with contemporaries such as Carl Ludwig Heinrich Berger,

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

,Hellmuth Freiherr von Maltzahn (Hrsg.). 1940. ''Phillip Otto Runges Briefwechsel mit Goethe. Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft'' (Band 51. Verlag der Goethe-Gesellschaft, Weimar, Deutschland. 120 pp. ellmuth Freiherr von Maltzahn (editor). 1940. ''Phillip Otto Runge's correspondence with Goethe'': Volume 51 of Writings of the Goethe Society. Goethe Society. Weimar, Germany. 120 pp./ref>

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him b ...

Henrik Steffens Henrik Steffens (2 May 1773 – 13 February 1845), was a Norwegian philosopher, scientist, and poet. Early life, education, and lectures He was born at Stavanger. At the age of fourteen he went with his parents to Copenhagen, where he stu ...

, and

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

. His paintings are often laden symbolism and allegories.Jaffé, Hans L. C. 1967. ''20,000 Years of World Painting.'' Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publication. New York. 418 pp. (page 295)Miesel, Victor H. 1972. ''Philipp Otto Runge, Caspar David Friedrich and Romantic Nationalism.'' Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin. 33(3): 37-51. For eight years he planned and refined his seminal project, ''Tageszeiten'' (''Times of Day''), four monumental paintings 50 square meters each, which in turn were only part of a larger collaborative Gesamtkunstwerk that was to include poetry, music, and architecture, but remained unrealized at the time of his death.Bris, Le Michel.1981. ''Romantics and Romanticism.'' Editions d'Art Albert Skira. Geneve/Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. New York. 215 pp. With it he aspired to abandon the traditional iconography of Christianity in European art and find a new expression for spiritual values through symbolism in landscapes. One historian stated "In Runge's painting we are clearly dealing with the attempt to present contemporary philosophy in art." He wrote an influential volume on color theory in 1808, ''Sphere of Colors'', that was published the same year he died.Clay, Jean. 1981. ''Romanticism.'' New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc. Secaucus. 320 pp. (page 297) Runge was born in 1777 in

Wolgast Wolgast (; csb, Wòłogòszcz) is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast that can b ...

, a town in northeast Germany on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

(

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held ...

at that time). He contracted pulmonary

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

at an early age and was in frail health throughout his life. As a youth he attended a school headed by

Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten (1 February 1758 – 26 October 1818), also known as Ludwig Theobul or Ludwig Theoboul, was a German poet and Lutheran preacher. Kosegarten was born in Grevesmühlen, in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. After st ...

. His father was a successful merchant and ship owner and Philipp and his older brother Daniel were groomed to follow him in his business. Daniel moved to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

to manage a branch of the family business and Philipp soon followed to serve as an apprentice (ca. 1793 – 96). There he began making contact with poets, publishers, and art collectors such as Matthias Claudius, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock,

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749, Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – 2 May 1816, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was a German publisher and founder of the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian t ...

, and

Johannes Michael Speckter Johannes Michael Speckter (5 July 1764, Uthlede - 1 March 1845, Hamburg) was a German lithographer and graphics collector. Life and work His father was a teacher from Hanover. Around 1785, he moved to Hamburg. Under the influence of the archi ...

who encouraged Runge in the arts, philosophy, and intellectual interests. He started taking drawing lessons in Hamburg in 1797 with

Heinrich Joachim Herterich Heinrich Joachim Herterich (May/June 1772, Hamburg - 20 March 1852, Hamburg) was a German lithographer, painter and etcher. Life and work He studied with his father, Johann Andreas Herterich (1725–1794), who was originally from Bayreuth. In ...

and

Gerdt Hardorff Gerdt Hardorff (11 May 1769, Steinkirchen - 19 May 1864, Hamburg) was a German painter, art collector and drawing teacher. He is sometimes referred to as The Elder to distinguish him from his son, Gerdt, who also became a painter. Biography ...

the Elder and it was only after a several years in Hamburg, in his early twenties, that Runge decided on a career as an artist.Claudon, Francis. 1980. ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Romanticism.'' Secaucus, N.J.: Chartwell Books. 304 pp. (page 105) Richter, Cornelia. 1981. ''Philipp Otto Runge, "Ich weiss eine schöne Blume" : Werkverzeichnis der Scherenschnitte'' 'Philipp Otto Runge, "I know a beautiful flower": Catalog Raisonné of the Paper Cuts'' Schirmer-Mosel. Munich, Germany. 143 pp. Runge studied painting for three years at the Copenhagen Academy (now the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dan ...

), from 1798 to1801 with Jens Juel and

Nicolai Abildgaard Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (11 September 1743 – 4 June 1809) was a Danish neoclassical and royal history painter, sculptor, architect, and professor of painting, mythology, and anatomy at the New Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhage ...

, where Caspar David Friedrich, three years his senior, had recently preceded him. Runge then attended the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts from 1801 to 1804 studying with

Anton Graff Anton Graff (18 November 1736 – 22 June 1813) was an eminent Swiss portrait artist. Among his famous subjects were Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Heinrich von Kleist, Frederick the Great, Friederike Sophie Seyler, Johann Got ...

and making contact with a broader circle of figures in the burgeoning Romantic movement. The poet and writer

was particularly influential in introducing Runge to new literature and the mystical ideas of

Jakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his firs ...

and

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (), was a German polymath who was a writer, philosopher, poet, aristocrat and mystic. He is regarded as an idiosyncratic and influential figure o ...

. Runge met Pauline Bassenge in Dresden in 1801 when she was 16 years old. They were married in Dresden on April 3, 1804, and soon moved back to Hamburg. They had four children, the youngest born after Runge's death. Runge died of consumption (tuberculosis) in 1810, at the age 33, his life's work spanning little more than ten years. Much of his surviving work was donated to the Hamburger Kunsthalle by his widow Pauline Runge née Bassenge in 1872.

Life and work

Philipp Otto Runge - A Stalk of Lilies with Six Blooms

Runge was born as the ninth of eleven children in

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (german: Vorpommern), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania forming the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, West ...

, then under Swedish rule, in a family of shipbuilders with ties to the Prussian nobility of

Sypniewski Sypniewski (feminine Sypniewska) is a Polish surname centered on the Oder region where families bearing this surname are still found today. Sypniewskis can also be found all over the world, particularly in the United States, Brazil, and Germany. " ...

/ von Runge family. As a sickly child he often missed school and at an early age learned the art of scissor-cut silhouettes from his mother, practised by him throughout his life. In 1795 he began a commercial apprenticeship at his older brother Daniel's firm in Hamburg. In 1799 Daniel supported Runge financially to begin study of painting under Jens Juel at the Copenhagen Academy. In 1801 he moved to

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

to continue his studies, where he met

, and his future wife Pauline Bassenge. He also began extensive study of the writings of the 17th century mystic Jakob Boehme. In 1803, on a visit to Weimar, Runge unexpectedly met

and the two formed a friendship based on their common interests in

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

and art. In 1804 he married and moved with his wife to

. Due to imminent war dangers (Napoleonic siege of Hamburg) they relocated in 1805 to his parental home in Wolgast where they remained until 1807. In 1805 Runge's correspondence with Goethe on the subject of his artistic work and color became more intensive. Returning to Hamburg in 1807, he and his brother Daniel formed a new company in which he remained active until the end of his life. In the same year he developed the concept of the color sphere. In 1808 he intensified his work on color, including making disk color mixture experiments. He also published written versions of two local folk fairy tales ''The fisherman and his wife'' and ''The almond tree'', later included among the tales of the brothers Grimm. In 1809 Runge completed his work on the manuscript of ''Farben-Kugel'' (Color sphere), published in 1810 in Hamburg. In the same year, ill with tuberculosis, Runge painted another self-portrait as well as portraits of his family and brother Daniel. The last of his four children was born on the day after Runge's death. Runge was of a mystical, deeply Christian turn of mind, and in his artistic work he tried to express notions of the harmony of the universe through symbolism of colour, form, and numbers. He considered blue, yellow, and red to be symbolic of the Christian trinity and equated blue with God and the night, red with morning, evening, and Jesus, and yellow with the Holy Spirit (Runge 1841, I, p. 17). As with some other romantic artists, Runge was interested in Gesamtkunstwerk, or total art work, which was an attempt to fuse all forms of art. He planned such a work surrounding a series of four

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

s called ''The Times of the Day'', designed to be seen in a special building, and viewed to the accompaniment of

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

and his own

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

. In 1803 Runge had large-format engravings made of the drawings of the ''Times of the Day'' series that became commercially successful and a set of which he presented to Goethe. He painted two versions of ''Morning'' (Kunsthalle, Hamburg), but the others did not advance beyond drawings. "Morning" was the start of a new type of landscape, one of religion and emotion. Runge was also one of the best German

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

ists of his period; several examples are in Hamburg. His style was rigid, sharp, and intense, at times almost naïve.

Runge and color

Runge's interest in color was the natural result of his work as a painter and of having an enquiring mind. Among his accepted tenets was that "as is known, there are only three colors, yellow, red, and blue" (letter to Goethe of July 3, 1806). His goal was to establish the complete world of colors resulting from mixture of the three, among themselves and together with white and black. In the same lengthy letter, Runge discussed in some detail his views on color order and included a sketch of a mixture circle, with the three primary colors forming an equilateral triangle and, together with their pair-wise mixtures, a hexagon. He arrived at the concept of the color sphere sometime in 1807, as indicated in his letter to Goethe of November 21 of that year, by expanding the hue circle into a sphere, with white and black forming the two opposing poles. A color mixture solid of a double-triangular pyramid had been proposed by Tobias Mayer in 1758, a fact known to Runge. His expansion of that solid into a sphere appears to have had an idealistic basis rather than one of logical necessity. With his disk color mixture experiments of 1807, he hoped to provide scientific support for the sphere form. Encouraged by Goethe and other friends, he wrote in 1808 a manuscript describing the color sphere, published in Hamburg early in 1810. In addition to a description of the color sphere, it contains an illustrated essay on rules of color harmony and one on color in nature written by Runge's friend

. An included hand-colored plate shows two different views of the surface of the sphere as well as horizontal and vertical slices showing the organization of its interior (see figure on left). Runge's premature death limited the impact of this work. Goethe, who had read the manuscript before publication, mentioned it in his '' Farbenlehre'' of 1810 as "successfully concluding this kind of effort." It was soon overshadowed by

Michel Eugène Chevreul Michel Eugène Chevreul (31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist and centenarian whose work influenced several areas in science, medicine, and art. His early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and le ...

's hemispherical system of 1839. A spherical color order system was patented in 1900 by

Albert Henry Munsell Albert Henry Munsell (January 6, 1858 – June 28, 1918) was an American painter, teacher of art, and the inventor of the Munsell color system. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, attended and served on the faculty of Massachusetts Normal Ar ...

, soon replaced with an irregular form of the solid.

Legacy

Runge has been included in numerous major retrospective exhibitions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art's, "German Masters of the Nineteenth Century" and the Hamburg Kunsthalle's, "Runge’s Cosmos". The art critic Robert Hughes has described Runge as "the closest equivalent to

that Germany produced". Runge's painting, ''The Morning'', 1808, is considered to be his greatest work. Morning, was intended to be installed as part of a series of religious murals titled ''Times of Day''; the four paintings were to be installed in a Gothic chapel accompanied by music and poetry, which Runge hoped would be a nucleus for a new religion. The series, except for Morning and Day, were never developed beyond a suit of monochrome drawings, four prints gifted by Runge, were displayed in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's music room. Runge's gestural use and contortions of amaryllises and lilies in ''Times of Day'' have been described as a predecessor to similar works produced during the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

movement almost 100 years later.

Gallery

All works are oil paintings in the collection of the Hamburger Kunsthalle unless noted otherwise. File:Philipp Otto Runge - The Lesson of the Nightingale - WGA20526.jpg, ''The Nightingale’s Lesson'' (1804–05), 105 x 86 cm. File:1805 Runge Die Hülsenbeckschen Kinder anagoria.JPG, ''The Hülsenbeck Children'' (1805–06), 131.5 x 143.5 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge - The Artist's Parents - WGA20527.jpg, ''The Artist's Parents'' (1806), 196 x 131 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge 004.jpg, ''Rest on the Flight to Egypt'', unfinished (1806), 96.5 x 129.5 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge - Pedro sobre el mar.jpg, ''Peter on the Sea'' (1806), 116 x 157 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Birth of the Human Soul (ca. 1806), oil on panel.jpg, ''Birth of the Human Soul'' (ca. 1806), 35.5 x 32.7 cm., private collection ''Tageszeiten'' (''Times of Day'') File:Philipp Otto Runge, The Day (1803), pen & pencil.jpg, ''The Day'' (1803), pen & pencil, 95.1 x 63.1 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, The Evening (1803), pen & pencil.jpg, ''The Evening'' (1803), pen & pencil, 95.2 x 64 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, The Night (1803), pen & pencil.jpg, ''The Night'' (1803), pen & pencil, 95.3 x 62.5 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, The Night (1803), pen & pencil, 71.4 x 48.2 cm.,.jpg, ''The Night'' (1803), pen & pencil, 71.4 x 48.2 cm. File:1808 Runge Der Morgen anagoria.JPG, ''The Morning'', small version (1808), 106 x 81 cm. File:Runge, Philipp Otto - The Great Morning - 1809-10.jpg, ''The Great Morning'' (1809–10), 152 x 113 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge - The Great Morning (detail) - WGA20519 (cropped).jpg, Detail, ''The Great Morning'' (1809–10) File:Philipp Otto Runge - The Great Morning (detail) - WGA20518.jpg, Detail, ''The Great Morning'' (1809–10) Portraits File:Phillip Otto Runge - Otto Sigismund, der Sohn des Künstlers - 1805.jpeg, ''Otto Sigismund Runge in a Folding Chair'' (1805), 40 x 35.5 cm., File:Philipp Otto Runge Wir drei.jpg, ''We Three'', left to right, the artist's brother Daniel, artist's wife Pauline, and self portrait (1805), 100 x 122 cm., destroyed in fire 1931 File:Philipp Otto Runge - Frau und Söhnchen des Künstlers - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Pauline Runge with Son'', wife and son of the artist (1807), 97 x 73 cm.,

Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to pl ...

File:Philipp Otto Runge - Bildnis der Wilhelmina Sophia Helwig (1807).jpg, ''Wilhelmina Sophia Helwig'' (1807), 116 x 92 cm.,

Pomeranian State Museum The Pomeranian State Museum (german: Pommersches Landesmuseum) in Greifswald, Western Pomerania, is a public museum primarily dedicated to Pomeranian history and arts. The largest exhibitions show archeological findings and artefacts from the ...

File:Philipp Otto Runge - Der Maler und Schriftsteller Friedrich August von Klinkowström - 2840 - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.jpg, '' Friedrich August von Klinkowström'' (1808), 65 x 48 cm., Österreichische Galerie Belvedere File:Anonymous - Brustbild eines jungen Mannes - 4641 - Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (cropped).jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Man'' (undated), 44 x 35 cm., Österreichische Galerie Belvedere File:Philipp Otto Runge, Self-Portrait (1809-10), oil on panel.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' (1809–10), 48 x 47 cm. Drawings File:Philippottorunge.jpg, ''Self-portrait'' (ca. 1801–02), black & white chalk, 55.3 x 43.3 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Source and Poet (1805), ink & pencil.jpg, ''The Source and the Poet'' (1805), ink & pencil, 50.9 x 67.1 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Head of a Dog (1805-06), chalk & lead.jpg, ''Head of a Dog'' (1805–06), chalk & lead, 29.5 x 35.9 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Study for The Great Morning (1809), chalk & pencil.jpg, Study for ''The Great Morning'' (1809), chalk & pencil, 40.6 x 53.4 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Fall of the Fatherland (1809), pen & penci.jpg, ''Fall of the Fatherland'', study (1809), ink & pencil 16.7 x 11 cm. File:Philipp Otto Runge, Sophia Sieveking on Her Deathbed (1810), black & white chalk.jpg, ''Sophia Sieveking on Her Deathbed'' (1810), black & white chalk, 43.5 x 51.2 cm.

References

External links

P. O. Runge, the artist
* *

Downloadable text of P. F. Schmidt "Philipp Otto Runge; sein Leben und sein Werk", Leipzig: Insel Verlag 1923]
Runge-Haus in Wolgast

Available English translation of "Farben-Kugel" and supporting materials

''German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Philipp Otto Runge (no. 70–73) {{DEFAULTSORT:Runge, Philipp Otto 1777 births 1810 deaths Botanical illustrators People from Wolgast German romantic painters People from Swedish Pomerania 19th-century German people Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery Romantic painters