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Pauline Runge with her two-year-old-son
Philipp Otto Runge1807
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Berlin, Germany
Runge painted this portrait in 1807, three years after his marriage to Pauline Bassenge. Both his realistic view of his subjects and his treatment of the landscape demonstrate his search for a new formal language. Pauline, with their two-year-old son, Sigismund, on her arm, is stern and dignified in her aspect. The artist may have been stylistically influenced here by late Gothic sculptures of the Madonna, while the unfinished landscape in the background reflects Runge’s Romantic notions of nature.
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Details
- Title: Pauline Runge with her two-year-old-son
- Creator: Philipp Otto Runge
- Date Created: 1807
- Physical Dimensions: w73.0 x h97.0 cm
- Type: Painting
- Technique and material: Oil on canvas
- Inv.-No.: A II 755
- ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-815114
- External link: Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Copyrights: Text: © Prestel Verlag / Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Photo: © b p k - Photo Agency / Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Andres Kilger
- Collection: Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Artist biography: Philipp Otto Runge was a Romantic German painter and draughtsman. In 1799 he started his apprenticeship in painting with Heinrich Joachim Hertrich in Hamburg and then under Jens Juel at the Copenhagen Academy. Two years later he left Denmark and moved to Dresden where met artists like Caspar David Friedrich and Ludwig Tieck. He became also a friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who he met in Weimar in 1803. Both shared a deep interest in art and colour theory. Runge was convinced that, in essence, only three colours exist and it was his ambition to create a complete world of colours by mixing them together in various combinations. He was the founder of the first solid colour system. Runge is considered one of the best German portraitists of his time and his compositions are characterized by rigidity as well as an intensity that tends towards naivety. One of his most famous artworks is 'The Hülsenbeck Children' (1805–06).
- Artist Place of Death: Hamburg, Germany
- Artist Place of Birth: Wolgast, Germany
- Artist Dates: 1777-07-23/1810-12-02
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