Caspar David Friedrich (1774—1840) was the greatest German Romantic painter, known for his sublime landscapes.
Caspar David Friedrich Summary
- Represented nature in its authentic, trans-human form but perceived by awed humanity
- Affected by the deaths of his mother and brothers and sisters, the last of which he witnessed
- Manifested the romantic perception of the sublime and the lonesome genius
- In 1805, emerged as the winner of an art competition organized by Goethe
- Regarded by German nationalists, not excluding the Nazis, of being a symbol of Germany
- Despite his patriotism, left Prussia for pro-French Saxony and enjoyed Russian patronage
Caspar David Friedrich’s Famous Paintings
- Cross in the Mountains [Tetschen Altar] (1808)
- The Monk by the Sea (1809)
- The Abbey in the Oakwood (c. 1810)
- Cross in the Mountains (c. 1814)
- Wanderer above a Sea of Fog (1818)
- Chalk Cliffs on Rügen (1818)
- Moonlife over the Sea (1822)
- The Sea of Ice (c. 1824)
- Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon (c. 1824)
- The Stages of Life (1835)