Biography (1774 - 1840)
Header Photo: Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (Detail) (German: Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer), aka Wanderer Above the Mist, 1818
Caspar David Friedrich
Oil on canvas, 37.3 in × 29.4 in
Kunsthalle Hamburg
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
One of my favourite paintings ever and as atmospheric as you will find of anything put onto canvas in the long history of art.
You could almost be behind him as he gazes at the ethereal landscape that is swept in mist.
Don't look for academic meaning in the piece: just let it sweep all over you and love it for what it is.
Caspar David Friedrich: Biography Notes >> Gallery >> Stunning Caspar David Friedrich Canvas Prints >> Advertise >> Caspar David Friedrich Books and Dvds available @ amazon.com
Caspar David Friedrich ~ Biography (1774 - 1840)
Painter
Caspar David Friedrich was the most purely Romantic of German landscape painters, and in his vision of the great forests one of the purest of European Romantics.
He was trained in Copenhagen and never went to Italy - he said that he was afraid he would never want to return if he ever saw Rome. He was particularly interested in the expression of effects of light and of the seasons, but his feeling for the haunted silence of the woods has no parallel outside Altdorfer. David d'Angers, who met him in Dresden in 1834, said he 'discovered the tragedy of landscape'. In 1808 he exhibited the Cross in the Mountains (Dresden), which was painted as an altarpiece for a private chapel, although it has no specifically religious subject-matter. It started a debate over the suitability of landscapes for religious purposes: in fact, all Friedrich's pictures of this kind are landscapes with pantheistic implications, and not 'religious' subjects at all. He spent most of his life in Dresden, where he knew Runge.
Most of his works are in German museums, especially Dresden, but others are in Fort Worth Texas, London (NG), Paris (Louvre), St petersburg and Vienna.
Source: The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (Penguin Reference Books)
Caspar David Friedrich ~ Biography II
The painter of sublime stillness. The solitude of man and the bleak beauty of nature are prominent themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840), the great romantic painter whose importance and influence have often been underestimated. Now widely considered to be the most important German artist of his generation, Friedrich died in obscurity and wasn't fully appreciated until the early 20th century.
An important precursor to the Expressionists, Friedrich once wrote that an artist must "close your bodily eye so that you may see your picture first with the spiritual eye. Then bring to the light of day that which you have seen in the darkness so that it may react upon others from the outside inwards."
Further Reading: Caspar David Friedrich (Basic Art)
Caspar David Friedrich ~ Biography III
Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840), the greatest painter of the Romantic movement in Germany, was perhaps Europe's first truly modern artist. His melancholy landscapes, often peopled by lonely wanderers, represent experiments towards a radically subjective art, one in which, as Friedrich wrote, the painter depicts not what he sees before him, but what he sees within him. Yet in their awesome power to capture the individuality of visible forms Friedrich's pictures also accept and express the irredeemable otherness of Nature.
Further Reading: Caspar David Friedrich and the Subject of Landscape
Caspar David Friedrich ~ Biography IV
'A painting must stand as a painting, made by human hand,' wrote Caspar David Friedrich, 'not seek to disguise itself as Nature.' One of his generation's most popular painters, Friedrich imagined landscapes of powerful beauty and spirituality from within the confines of his studios.
Further Reading: Caspar David Friedrich Monograph
Caspar David Friedrich ~ Gallery
Caspar David Friedrich
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
Canvas Print
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
The Cemetery Entrance
Canvas Print
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Monk By The Sea
Canvas Print
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
The Abbey In The Oakwood
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Ploughed Field
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Fog
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Winter Light
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Tree
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Das Eismeer
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Graveyard Under Snow
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Ships At The Port Of Greifswald
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Landscape With A Male Figure
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Fir Trees In The Snow
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Morgennebel im Gebirge
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Chalk Cliffs
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Canyon In The Resin
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Clipping Floe
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Dolmen In Snow
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Rocky Ravine
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Morning In The Mountains
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
A Northern Spring Landscape
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Winter Landscape
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Fog
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Ship In The Arctic Ocean
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Mountain Peak With Drifting Clouds
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Greifswald Market
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Flat Country Shank At Bay Of Greifswald
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Cross In The Forest
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Hills And Ploughed Fields Near Dresden
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Early Snow
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Meeresufer im Mondschein
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Landscape with Rainbow
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Morning In Riesengebirge
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich
Abend (also known as Sonnenuntergang Hinter der Dresdener Hofkirche)
Caspar David Friedrich Fine Art Prints @ amazon.com (direct link)
© Estate of Caspar David Friedrich
Links
Caspar David Friedrich: Biography Notes >> Gallery >> Stunning Caspar David Friedrich Canvas Prints >> Advertise >> Caspar David Friedrich Books and Dvds available @ amazon.com
