The Morning is elevating in color, stunning in technique, and unexpectedly meaningful.
This painting is one of the most mysterious works of the German early Romantic era, and yet so youthful that you wouldn’t believe it is 200 years old and emerged from a rather melancholic and politically difficult era.
Runge loved his children. You see this in his family portraits, like the picture Die Huelsenbeckschen Kinder (The Huelsenbeck Children), where neighbor boys are playing with his son.
Life is hard, but they are hopeful. This is the message in the portrait of his old parents, in which he painted the little ones next to a lily and thistles growing in the garden.
Runge was so touched by the purity of the children’s hearts that it is no wonder that he made children the main protagonists of his “Morning” painting. The break of day becomes a symbol for the divine spark in every being, emerging, heralding new life.
The composition is strictly symmetrical, which gives the whole scene a very sacred and dignified character. One feels as if looking at an old altarpiece, yet there is a very different feeling.
The woman in the middle represents the goddess Aurora. She stands on a bench of clouds, holding up a huge lily bloom. The little baby in the middle foreground is like the new day. The others welcome it.
The ones on top of the flower are like the spirits of each petal. They are six so they stand for the six petals. Not only the flower has its spirit, each petal has its spirit. This represents life on different levels: connection, interaction, harmony, and creation.
That Runge depicts an inward and an outward, a hidden and a visible state of progression, makes this picture so special. The middle part is on canvas. The frame is of wood but still indispensable to the whole composition and meaning because the frame shows us what happens under the earth: A life that starts under the earth in the root of the plant breaks through the stalk and the blossom.
The sun is still under the earth, invisible behind the horizon in the lower part of the frame. The little cherubs seem to creep up through the plants’ stalks. They become an image of the life and spirit of each flower.
Everything has life and soul. This was a very prevalent idea of the Romantic era, prominently featured in Goethe’s works. The divine is in everything and omnipresent.
The white lily is very pure and innocent. It appears in the middle but also on both sides of the frame.
The little angels evolve through a red amaryllis first and then through a white lily, as if experiencing the same journey on a higher level. These represent two stages of evolution, one on earth, one in heaven.
The angels on the roots are holding hands and seem to help each other to get through. The ones on top are protecting themselves softly with crossed arms the moment they come out.
Above all, there shines the morning star, and even higher, in the frame, we see a firmament formed out of little angel heads, also strictly arranged, an architectural dome of shining smiles. The beaming white rays of light virtually become the continuance of the tiny morning stars shining on a higher level.
A circle of little children forms around the woman in the middle (the goddess Aurora, or dawn). Notice how this circle draws your view into the boundless space and sky. The children forming it are located in the foreground as well as the background.
Nobody is dominating the scene; everyone is important in his or her place. You cannot take anyone out of the composition. Each one is strictly required to stay in his place. On the other hand, the whole landscape is so soft and open that the picture almost levitates.
The coloring of the picture is vivid. There is so much light to perceive, yet so much darkness is needed make it visible. The black framing around the inner part is necessary to make it solid. It is not a sharp black line , but rather it is gentle like the branch of a tree that appears black in front of the dawning sky. Warm and cold are perfectly balanced.
The colors are precious and pure. Radiant and luminous, they are applied in delicate, transparent layers. Runge managed to paint a flawless transition between the yellow and the blue in the upper part of the heaven, in the background.
This painting is one of the most mysterious works of the German early Romantic era, and yet so youthful that you wouldn’t believe it is 200 years old and emerged from a rather melancholic and politically difficult era.
Runge loved his children. You see this in his family portraits, like the picture Die Huelsenbeckschen Kinder (The Huelsenbeck Children), where neighbor boys are playing with his son.
Life is hard, but they are hopeful. This is the message in the portrait of his old parents, in which he painted the little ones next to a lily and thistles growing in the garden.
Runge was so touched by the purity of the children’s hearts that it is no wonder that he made children the main protagonists of his “Morning” painting. The break of day becomes a symbol for the divine spark in every being, emerging, heralding new life.
The composition is strictly symmetrical, which gives the whole scene a very sacred and dignified character. One feels as if looking at an old altarpiece, yet there is a very different feeling.
The woman in the middle represents the goddess Aurora. She stands on a bench of clouds, holding up a huge lily bloom. The little baby in the middle foreground is like the new day. The others welcome it.
The ones on top of the flower are like the spirits of each petal. They are six so they stand for the six petals. Not only the flower has its spirit, each petal has its spirit. This represents life on different levels: connection, interaction, harmony, and creation.
That Runge depicts an inward and an outward, a hidden and a visible state of progression, makes this picture so special. The middle part is on canvas. The frame is of wood but still indispensable to the whole composition and meaning because the frame shows us what happens under the earth: A life that starts under the earth in the root of the plant breaks through the stalk and the blossom.
The sun is still under the earth, invisible behind the horizon in the lower part of the frame. The little cherubs seem to creep up through the plants’ stalks. They become an image of the life and spirit of each flower.
Everything has life and soul. This was a very prevalent idea of the Romantic era, prominently featured in Goethe’s works. The divine is in everything and omnipresent.
The white lily is very pure and innocent. It appears in the middle but also on both sides of the frame.
The little angels evolve through a red amaryllis first and then through a white lily, as if experiencing the same journey on a higher level. These represent two stages of evolution, one on earth, one in heaven.
The angels on the roots are holding hands and seem to help each other to get through. The ones on top are protecting themselves softly with crossed arms the moment they come out.
Above all, there shines the morning star, and even higher, in the frame, we see a firmament formed out of little angel heads, also strictly arranged, an architectural dome of shining smiles. The beaming white rays of light virtually become the continuance of the tiny morning stars shining on a higher level.
A circle of little children forms around the woman in the middle (the goddess Aurora, or dawn). Notice how this circle draws your view into the boundless space and sky. The children forming it are located in the foreground as well as the background.
Nobody is dominating the scene; everyone is important in his or her place. You cannot take anyone out of the composition. Each one is strictly required to stay in his place. On the other hand, the whole landscape is so soft and open that the picture almost levitates.
The coloring of the picture is vivid. There is so much light to perceive, yet so much darkness is needed make it visible. The black framing around the inner part is necessary to make it solid. It is not a sharp black line , but rather it is gentle like the branch of a tree that appears black in front of the dawning sky. Warm and cold are perfectly balanced.
The colors are precious and pure. Radiant and luminous, they are applied in delicate, transparent layers. Runge managed to paint a flawless transition between the yellow and the blue in the upper part of the heaven, in the background.
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