neoRomanticism

Neoromanticism is an umbrella term used to describe late 20th-century and later artistic tendencies that revive or reanimate themes and stylistic markers associated with Romanticism (late 18th to early 19th centuries). The label is applied variably across disciplines and scholars, and there is no single canon. It generally denotes a turn toward heightened emotion, individual subjectivity, imagination, nature, beauty, spirituality, and the sublime, sometimes as a counterpoint to the rationalism and detachment associated with modernism and postmodernism.

In literature and poetry, neoromantic works often foreground lyrical language, interior life, myth or fairy tale motifs, and a sense of longing or transcendence. They may stress authenticity, imaginative immersion, and a personal or visionary voice.

In music, neoromanticism describes scores and practices that favor melodic expressiveness, rich tonal harmony, expansive orchestration, and mood-driven or programmatic storytelling. It stands in contrast to erudite experimentation and overt minimalism, and it has entered both concert music and film music vocabularies.

In the visual arts and film, neoromantic aesthetics seek mood, atmosphere, and narrative suggestion through color, light, and gesture, occasionally drawing on nature, the sublime, or mythic imagery. Some critics view neoromanticism as a deliberate return to emotional immediacy in a highly mediated culture.

Critics note that the term is fluid and contested, with different schools and national traditions using it to describe distinct revivalist or reactionary impulses rather than a single movement. Its value lies in illuminating ongoing debates about emotion, nature, and meaning in contemporary art.