Imaginarium Europa: Artistic Conceptualizations of a Continent

Jana Graul

This postdoctoral project looks at the interplay between the discourse about Europe and artistic creation. For this purpose, it adopts a thematic approach. Artistic designs and ideas about Europe are examined, i.e., material and mental images of the continent, with the focus falling on the connection to the artistic activity itself. The following questions are the launch pad for this inquiry: What did Europe mean for artists between the 17th and 19th centuries against the backdrop of shifting conjunctures of discourse, changing political and religious relationships, but also diverse contexts created by background, social conditions, and commercial calculations? In what contexts did the idea of the continent play a role for artists and how did they locate themselves within it? What images of Europe did they create, but above all: how and why did they (or others) connect their work with the continent? Furthermore, did the continent take on literary or journalistic relevance in relation to artistic creation and, if so, what is the relationship between its thematization in this context and other contemporary discourses abut Europe? The focus of the project is on the role of the continent in the artistic discourse of early modern and modern Europe and not least on the contributions art and artists made to the Imaginarium Europa.