Birth of the Human Soul by Philipp Otto Runge (Interpretation and Analysis)
Birth of a Human Soul Source: Arthur There’s something about the world of art that seems to attract off-the-wall people. Maybe it’s the creative atmosphere. Maybe it’s the bohemian lifestyle. Maybe it’s the paint fumes. Who knows. What I do know is that Philipp Otto Runge was what I would call an off-the-wall individual. Runge was one of the greatest artists of the Romantic movement. He was a renowned painter of portraits who was known for his intense style. Not only did Runge write a truly gruesome story for the brothers Grimm and develop the idea of the color sphere—a crucial development in the study of color—he was also a religious mystic. Runge was a devout Christian who claimed a mystical understanding of God’s mysteries. His spirituality is clear and present in much of his art. He believed that symbolism and science went hand in hand, and he sought harmony between the spiritual and the natural world through his work. These aspects of his work can be seen in Birth of the Human Sou...