The Hülsenbeck children

Philipp Otto Runge painted "The Hülsenbeck Children" in 1805-1806, one of the masterpieces of German Romantic painting showing three children of his friend Friedrich August Hülsenbeck in their garden in Hamburg. Runge, who died at thirty-three, was Friedrich's only peer among German Romantic painters. His vision of childhood innocence and the unity of humans with nature embodies the Romantic ideal of an unspoiled, primal relationship with the world.

Runge renders the children with a clarity and intensity of color that give the painting an almost hallucinatory vividness. The giant sunflower and the lush garden create a child's-eye view of nature as both wondrous and slightly overwhelming, with sharp botanical detail throughout.