The ruins of the Cistercian monastery of Eldena near Greifswald were one of Caspar David Friedrich’s favourite motifs. He hailed from Greifswald, and made his personal discovery of Eldena at a time when the Romantic generation believed the Gothic style to be a German invention and elevated it to the status of an ideal of their age. They regarded it as a style of nature and the expression of growth striving for freedom. Friedrich’s view of the ruins of Eldena, painted in 1824/25, was preceded by several drawings, including a nature study of 1803 (in the Hamburger Kunsthalle) that the painting largely follows. While the luxuriantly growing oak trees that frame the Gothic architecture are mainly a product of Friedrich’s artistic licence, the hut in the midst of the ruins actually existed; it was not demolished until measures were taken to preserve the monument in 1828.
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