Caspar David Friedrich
Google photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YYazZS1CxcbhqwQ39 dates: 1774 – 1840, Rügen paintings early 1800s, Monk by the Sea 1810, Wanderer 1817, decline in 1820s and 30s. In general I would describe Friedich’s oeuvre (as represented in this exhibit) as dramatic landscapes, with a small number of small spectators or none at all. His subjects are above all the mountains and the sea and the skies above them, but he also depicts city skylines, fields, ruins (especially dolmens), boats, fog/clouds, and stars. He depicts real landscapes – the island of Rügen, Dresden, the towns of Neubrandenburg and Greifswald, the mountains of Riesengebirge – but I’m not sure how much German-ness I see in these locations. They often look to me like the Hudson River School (rel’n)? that is to say, it’s hard for me to see in them the German nationalism that they were associated with in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. the Riesengebirge (now in Poland) were in Silesia, which was the border r...