Casper David Friedrich was a German painter that was an important artist through the romantic period. Friedrich was known for the landscape paintings he created and was known to have “changed the face of landscape paintings with his intense and emotional focus on nature” (artble.com). Friedrich suffered much loss in his youth with the death of his mother, two sisters and a brother who died saving Friedrich’s life. Some historians say this is the reason for the emotion he portrays in his artwork (artable.com). Friedrich had the talent to take everyday ordinary trees, mountains and hills and transform them into a deeper spiritual meaning than what the natural human eye sees (arble.com). “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”…“conveys both the infinite potential and possibilities of man and the awesome, mysterious grandeur of nature. The popular Romantic theme of the greatness of man contrasted with the sublimity and power of nature is on display. The man has climbed high and conquered much, only to see that there are infinite vistas still out there, shrouded in a fog that hides what lies beyond” (artofmanliness.org).

Another painting by Friedrich that emphasized his love for nature and the way he was able to enhance simple components of nature such as trees is his Abbey in an Oak Forest. This painting is “depicting the ruins of an abbey church, which has become a graveyard. It captures several different Romantic elements at once. Like in Turner’s abbey piece, nature has reclaimed man’s handiwork” (artofmanliness.org). Friedrich married and had three children. During his later years of life he suffered a stroke and lost the use in some of his limbs. This caused depression and his artwork to change and become dark and depressing. He died not too many years later (caspardavidfriedrich.org).

Casper David Friedrich