William Blake’s Universe

William Blake, Death on a Pale Horse, ca.1800, pen, ink and watercolour on paper © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Although William Blake was sometimes seen as an eccentric figure or lone genius, William Blake’s Universe explores his Blake’s boundless imagination in the context of wider trends and themes in European art including romanticism, mysticism and ideas of spiritual regeneration. The exhibition brings together the largest-ever display of works to date by the radical British artist, printmaker and poet from the Fitzwilliam’s own collection, alongside art by European contemporaries such as the German romantic painters Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich. Though these artists never met or connected in their lifetimes, Blake, Runge and Friedrich shared a strong sense of individuality and an unwavering belief in the power of art to redeem a society in crisis.