Die Winterreise (The Winter Journey) is a cycle of 24 poems on themes such as melancholia, loneliness, numbness and heartbreak, symbolised by an increasingly weary yet restless wanderer travelling in winter. They were originally written by German lyricist Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827), while Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) adapted them in his art songs, though in a different order. For this sequence of etchings I am using the order Schubert chose, because the songs are more prominent and they are what initially fascinated me and inspired much of my own work ever since I was introduced to them in highschool. With the etchings I aim to illustrate mood and emotions as effectively as possible while focussing on landscapes with a visually not clearly defined character in it. The imagery connects back to the art of the Romantics but also extends it towards other stylistic elements, which is quite fitting because the Winter Journey acknowledges and faces the conflict of its own Romantic nature. This may be what drew me to it many years ago, as opposed to many other, purely Romantic works. The lonesome protagonist wanders endlessly through winter while all Romantic cliché dreams and longings gradually make way for resignation and numbness.
I have chosen etching as the medium for this project for several reasons, one being the aesthetic of etched lines, their texture. In contrast to pencil and pen drawings, etchings are constantly prone to inconsistencies at every step of the process. They are the result of chaos and commitment, quite Romantic in itself. The etchings are all 40 x 30 cm in size.
