Friedrich’s masterpiece:
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
Hemakumar Nanayakkara
Romanticism is the movement in art and literature that occurred in
Europe and America during the mid 18th to 19th century. It was a
movement that rose against the rationalism of neoclassicism, which gave
a great importance to feelings.
Romanticism is a way to feel and express nature, life and human
nature. The painters of romantic period did not paint according to what
they were requested. They deeply expressed their ideas and feelings
through their works.
Friedrich’s most famous work ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’
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Perhaps the most famous romantic painting is known as the ‘Wanderer
above the Sea of Fog’ (Oil on canvas, 94.8cm x 74.8cm). This painting is
also named as “Wanderer above the Mist”. It was painted by the famous
German artist Caspar David Friedrich in 1818. Caspar David Friedrich was
a famous landscape painter of the 19th century.
He is best known for his later allegorical landscapes which presented
reflective figures silhouetted against night hues, morning mist, barren
trees as well as Gothic ruins. Friedrichs main interest as a painter has
been the reflection of nature in his frequently symbolic art attempts to
express spiritual experiences from life.
The painting ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’ depicts the painter
himself standing in the foreground, on a pinnacle of a mountain, poses
his back to the viewer. He wears a dark green color overcoat and holds a
walking stick in his right hand. His hair waves in the wind.
The wanderer is looking at the scene in front of him. The landscapes
in front of him are covered with thick layers of fog. In the middle
ground one could see some ridges and a forest of trees through the dense
sea of fog. In the far distance there are some faded mountains and
beyond that the fog stretches out until it meets the cloudy sky.
Caspar David Friedrich has taken various elements for his work from
the mountains of the “Elbsandsteingebirge” in Saxony and Bohemia.
In the background to the right, the cylindrical peak is the
Zirkelstein. The mountain in the background to the left could be either
the Rosenberg or Kaltenberg. The rocky ridge in front of the wanderer
could be Gamrig near Rathen. Rocky pinnacle on which the wanderer stands
is the Kaiserkrone. The painter sketched the scene outdoors in that
particular location and rearranged by himself in the studio for the
painting.
This painting is a powerful statement of loneliness and difficulties
experienced by people who are intellectuals. The wanderer in this
particular painting is a representative of that special intellectual
type. These kinds of works were quite typical in the romantic period.
Romantic period was the time when the industrial revolution took
place in Europe. Many people attempted to get away from machinery that
brought poverty and pain into their lives. People of this period
desperately wanted to embrace the purity of nature and move away from
the social hardships.
This wonderful painting of Caspar David Friedrich is currently
displayed in the Kunsthalle Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany. |