Revisiting the 18th century sublime in contemporary visual art:representations of Icelandic landscape

This thesis discusses the depiction of the landscape in art in relation to the theory of the sublime, through my own artistic practice, and through the examination of examples from the history of art. The theory of the Sublime is also analysed in the historical context of the18th century, and discussed in relation to its place, and relevance in contemporary ideas and art production.

The thesis begins by examining Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, and using this to explore how artists have responded to the Sublime in their paintings, examining the work of Turner and Caspar David Friedrich for example, as major exponents of the Sublime. I set out to establish whether or not the emotional qualities that the eighteenth-century idea of the Sublime uncovers, can be effectively defined by this term in contemporary painting.

Alongside this, my thesis also deals with my own personal experience of the Sublime, as identified in the glacial landscapes of Iceland. The Sublime is a key influence in my artistic practice.

My paintings might be seen as a direct response to feelings associated with the Sublime experienced in the glacial landscapes of Iceland, and through the process of making them I have attempted to explore and translate my sublime experience.