Nostalgia

Artworks recalling memories and meanings from the past in a way that might be painful—the term nostalgia is derived from the Greek words for “return” and “suffering”. 18th- and 19th-century Romantic landscape painters like J.M.W. Turner and John Constable often depicted a mythical countryside, touching on a widespread nostalgic yearning for the pastoral, bountiful rural life thought to have been lost as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Contemporary American artists often wax nostalgic for the America of the 1950s (in search of a simpler, more peaceful time) through a focus on mid-century iconography, such as cars and the open road.