DE 2010
Director’s statement
Film on art is interesting to make because they are between catalogue and exhibition. On the one hand, it has to be informative, but it also has to make you want to go and see the painting with your own eyes. Films presented in a museum are in a good situation to be watched, like in a cinema: a sort of mental place of repose and reflection for the visitor. In a way, visitors will be carried by the film for a while. Making a film on art, means to me working in the same way as the artist does, trying to make use of the aesthetics and concepts that the artist takes for his work.
For example, at the time Runge was painting, the sky in landscape paintings held an important place in the composition (golden ratio). So, I decided to make use of this for some outside scenes I shot, such as in the places and landscapes where Runge came from. The same applies to the light. Romantic paintings have a special light. I attempted to shoot with a similar light at particular times of the day. When I begin to work, I observe intensively the art works, trying to find a key to convey the artist’s work in the film.
My research focused on the artist’s writings, correspondence, diaries, if they still exist. Runge exchanged a lot of letters with his family, particularly with his oldest brother Daniel, who gave him money to continue his research in art. So it was easy to reconstruct his thought about his work and the underlying concepts, and use quotes as a central element of the script. I avoid a commentary-based approach which is more journalistic and less emotional. In the original German version of my film, I used the singer to read Runge’s quotes, something he had never previously done. It was interesting to have both, voice-over and songs, performed by the same person.
Excerpts from Philipp Otto Runge’s letters (published in 1840)
“Runge’s work was a kind of “Gesamtkunstwerk”, and in this he was really ahead of his time. He also wrote poetry, had intense correspondence with a composer, and learned to understand music. He took poems by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and included some of the rhymes in his painting “The Night of the Nightingale”. For me it was important to take and show this poetry in a different way than as quotes in a voice-over commentary. I decided to have it sung, asked a composer to write the music and find a tenor to sing it. I gave the music a significant place in the film. Runge used a lot of musical instruments in his paintings and placed them very specifically and symmetrically.
We played and recorded the new music with historical instruments from the 18th century.
Because Runge’s concept is to leave visible the construction lines of his paintings and drawings and to colour his paintings in accordance with his own, published, theory of colours, I decided to show in the film what lies behind the exhibition of Runge’s works. For example, I used the first interview between the director of the Hamburg Kunsthalle and the architect of the exhibition, as well as curators’ statements. I got the opportunity to film various results of the restoration department’s research. Specifically, I was able to show the X-ray and infra-red pictures of some paintings, which adds different textures to the film.
At the end of the film I show the final song being recorded with the pianist and the singer, and use this in conjunction with Runge’s final painting to leave the world of the film and return to reality with a kind of the making of.
The quiet, poetic tones of this film about Philipp Otto Runge (who is, with Caspar David Friedrich, the most important painter of German Romanticism) are brought to words. Nathalie David takes us into his mind through spoken and sung excerpts from his letters and Poems. We meet the artist in his correspondence with family members and his close contemporaries, in his thoughts about himself, his art and his life. The author immerses us in long, quiet picture settings in the art of Philipp Otto Runge and close-ups bring details to the eyes, which usually remain hidden to the sight of the beholder. The visit of the places which carried a lot of influence in the life and work of the artist, following discussions with art historians about the life of the painter, leading the observer through the course of his life to help percieve the many facets of his work. The visitor is guided behind the scenes of the museum world, which are otherwise hidden. In many ways, the film provides insight into the works of Runge through the perspective of the conservators and the curators.
Philipp Otto Runge (23 July 1777 – 2 December 1810) was a Romantic German painter. Runge was born as the 9th of 11 children of a family of shipbuilders in Wolgast, in Western Pomerania, then under Swedish rule. As a sickly child he often missed school and at an early age learned the art of scissor-cut silhouettes from his mother, practised by him throughout his life. In 1795 he began a commercial apprenticeship at his older brother Daniel’s firm in Hamburg. In 1799 Daniel supported Runge financially to begin study of painting under Jens Juel at the Copenhagen Academy. In 1801 he moved to Dresden to continue his studies, where he met Caspar David Friedrich, Ludwig Tieck, and his future wife Pauline Bassenge. He also began extensive study of the writings of the 17th century mystic Jakob Boehme. In 1803, on a visit to Weimar, Runge unexpectedly met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the two formed a friendship based on their common interests in color and art.”
Documentary – 97 min. (English with German Subtitles)
Written & Directed by: Nathalie David
Voice Over: James Sanderson
Sung by: Steffen Wolf
Original Score: Henry Altmann
Performed by: Vladyslav Sendecki
Cinematography & Editing: Nathalie David
Sound Recording: Madeleine Dewald
Sound Design & Mix: Clemens Endress
Production Manager: Ulrike Cappenberg
Colour Grading: Martin Heckmann
Titles & Credits: Madeleine Dewald
Post Production: Dock 43
Producer: Nathalie David – PITCHOUNPRODUCTION
Translation & Subtitling: Andrew Bird
Texts:
Excerpts from Philipp Otto Runge’s letters (published in 1840 by his oldest brother Daniel, in two volumes Philipp Otto Runge. Hinterlassene Schriften), including poems by Philipp Otto Runge, Clemens Brentano, Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and Novalis.
Commissioned by: Hamburger Kunsthalle
Funded by: Philipp Otto Runge Stiftung and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, with the support of the Philipp Otto Runge Foundation
©Nathalie David – PITCHOUNPRODUCTION & Hamburger Kunsthalle 2013
Screenings & Festivals
2013:
FIFA – Festival International du Film sur l’Art, Montreal, Canada (In Competition)
Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen
2014: Journées du Film sur L’Art au Louvre, Paris