Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich painted landscapes as mirrors of the soul: mist, moonlight, ruins – and people who stand with their backs to us, gazing into the distance.
Life
Born in Greifswald on the Baltic in 1774, he lost his mother and several siblings early; one brother drowned trying to save him while skating. He studied at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen and settled in Dresden in 1798. Walks on Rügen, in the Harz and in the Giant Mountains provided sketches for his paintings. After early fame he fell out of fashion and died impoverished in Dresden in 1840. He was only rediscovered around 1900.
Style & technique
Friedrich composed his paintings from precise studies of nature, but never as mere depiction: each landscape is a statement about life, death and faith. Typical are quiet, almost empty expanses, delicate gradations of colour in the sky and the figure seen from behind, through whom we ourselves look into the picture.
Look closely
- The figure from behind: where do you stand as a viewer – beside them?
- The sky: often more than half the picture, with delicate gradations.
- The signs: crosses, ruins, bare trees, ships – they speak of transience and hope.
Timeline
- 1774: Born in Greifswald.
- 1798: Moves to Dresden.
- 1808: The “Tetschen Altarpiece” sparks a dispute about landscape painting.
- c. 1818: “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog”.
- 1840: Dies in Dresden.