Monk by the Sea (1808/1810) by Caspar David FriedrichAlte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Hauntingly beautiful paintings by the masterful German Romanticist
The German painter Caspar David Friedrich was one of the most prominent artists of the early 19th century Romanticist movement. Dealing with themes such as natural power, human curiosity and mortality, and spirituality, Friedrich's work is at once both macabre and stunningly alluring. Here are five highlights that you should get acquainted with!
Monk by the Sea
This is one of Friedrich’s most famous and most enigmatic paintings, and one that caused a stir among his contemporaries who had never before come across such a minimalistic artistic aesthetic. The lonely monk standing on the shore is barely visible at first, completely dwarfed by the yawning expanse of sea and sky. There’s been much debate about whether it’s an unnerving painting filled with despair about the insignificance of the individual (or even God given what the monk symbolizes), or one which celebrates the immense beauty of the natural world. It’s probably a little of both; the deep black of the sea and lower half of the sky give the scene an apocalyptic air, but a band of sunlight in the middle of the canvas reminds us of the compelling paradoxes found within nature.
Monk by the Sea Caspar David Friedrich 1808-10 (From the collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, National Museums in Berlin)
What's even more incredible about this painting is how Friedrich creates a sense of an abyss or endless sky on a relatively small canvas. Take a look for yourself on Museum View below:
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Museum View of Monk by the Sea Caspar David Friedrich 1808-10 (From the collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, National Museums in Berlin)
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Abbey Among Oak Trees
This painting was produced at the same time as Monk By the Sea, and both were exhibited to great acclaim at the 1810 Berlin Academy Exhibition. This is an eerie, gothic masterpiece; under the blanket of a dark night a group of monks carry a coffin under the gaping archway of a derelict Abbey. The landscape is filled with images of death, from the dilapidated tombstones, to the mounds of earth filled with corpses to the skeletal oak trees. The ghostly atmosphere is amplified by the fact that pale glow that sifts in from the right of the canvas seems to be emerging from a totally unidentifiable source, rather than the crescent moon at the top as we'd expect.
Abbey among Oak Trees (1809/1810) by Caspar David FriedrichAlte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Abbey Among Oak Trees Caspar David Friedrich 1809-10 (From the collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, National Museums in Berlin)
The painting hangs side by side Monk by the Sea at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, allowing viewers to consider their thematic overlap. Check it out below:
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Abbey Among Oak Trees Caspar David Friedrich 1809-10 (From the collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, National Museums in Berlin)
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A Walk At Dusk
Death also haunts this work completed in the final years of Friedrich’s life, just before the artist suffered from a life-altering stroke. Here we have another solitary figure at the centre of a sombre, ethereal landscape. He arrives at a tomb, bowing his head out of respect, or recognition that he will be meeting the same fate. Could he be the ailing Friedrich himself? The temporal setting of this painting—dusk in winter— further adds to the pervasive sense of life coming to an end, while the heavy mist sits like a funeral shroud over the landscape. But both the waxing moon, and the changing seasons are symbols of the regeneration, and may signal the hope proffered by Friedrich's Christian faith, at the centre of which lie beliefs in afterlife and revival.
A Walk at Dusk (Front)The J. Paul Getty Museum
A Walk at Dusk Caspar David Friedrich 1830-5 (From the Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum)
Although it's one of the smaller works in its room at the J.Paul Getty Museum, this painting immediately catches the eye with its stunning otherworldliness. Take a look below:
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Museum View of A Walk at Dusk Caspar David Friedrich 1830-5 (From the Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum)
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Two Men Contemplating the Moon
Much of Friedrich’s work is melancholy and features lonely wanderers. This painting however is a touching depiction of friendship fused with the artist’s trademark atmospheric moonlit landscape. Two archetypal Romantic explorers have walked up a hill to find a good vantage point from which they can look at the moon. Unlike the cold silvery light in A Walk at Dusk, the orange light in which the subjects are bathed is warm and comforting. The men each take a moment to reflect— they may be lost in their own thoughts, but with one resting on the shoulder of the other, they are clearly glad to be enjoying the breathtaking view in each other’s company.
Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1819 - 1820) by Caspar David FriedrichNew Masters Gallery, Dresden State Art Collections
Two Men Contemplating the Moon Caspar David Friedrich 1819-20 (From the collection of New Masters Gallery, Dresden State Art Collections)
Woman at a Window
Friedrich was known more for his landscapes than for interior scenes, but he still maintains the spirit of Romantic curiosity in this painting of his wife, Caroline. The motif of the subject taking in their natural surroundings recurs in his work; if we zoom in we can follow the young woman’s gaze and see that she’s looking out at a river, a forest and an endless pale blue sky. Like a typical Romantic hero, she yearns to explore the world the lies beyond. The bareness of the interiors contrasts with the vibrancy of what lies beyond the window.
Woman at a Window (1822) by Caspar David FriedrichAlte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Woman at a Window Caspar David Friedrich 1822 (From the collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, National Museums in Berlin)
