For Friedrich, nature is a reflection of the divine spirit. Gothic churches, monasteries, abandoned places of lost faiths of Christian art, and architecture play a major role in Friedrich's narrative.
Caspar David Friedrich was born on September 5, 1774, in Greifswald, which was then under Swedish rule, as the sixth of ten children. He is the son of a wealthy and enlightened father who produces soap and candles.
One of the reasons why he is a melancholic artist may be the pain he went through as a child because he was introduced to the concept of death at a very young age. His mother, Sophie Dorothea Bechly, dies when he is seven. At the age of thirteen, he witnesses his older brother, Johann Christoffe, dies when the ice of a frozen lake breaks and falls into the water. Some sources write that Johann Christoffer died while trying to save Caspar David, who was in danger on the ice. His sister Elisabeth died of typhus in 1782, and his other sister, Maria, in 1791.
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes, which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
In 1790, Friedrich studies art with the architect Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Greifswald. He also studied literature and aesthetics from Swedish professor Thomas Thorild. In 1794 he enrolled at the Copenhagen Academy of Art, where he trained with artists such as Christian August Lorentzen and landscape painter Jens Juel. These artists were inspired by the Sturm und Drang movement in German Literature. They are somewhere between the dramatic violence and expressive style of the fledgling Romantic aesthetics and the abandonment of the neo-classical form. Before starting to draw, Friedrich begins his education by making copies of ancient sculptures and castles. He is closely interested in 17th-century Dutch landscape painting.
The artist, who came to Dresden in 1798 after a four-year education, soon met the Schlegel brothers, the great creators of romance such as Novalis, Schelling, and Jean-Paul. Despite settling in Dresden, he yearns for the places where he was born, often goes to the town where he spent his childhood, and stays there for a long time. In 1805, two of his works, which were exhibited in Weimar, were bought by Goethe.
His first major painting was the Cross in the Mountains, also known as the Gemäldegalerie Dresden, exhibited in 1808. According to the historical data at hand, the work was voluntarily done by Friedrich IV, King of Sweden. It is understood that it was made as a gift to Gustave Adolph. In his correspondence with Johannes Karl Hartwig Schulze, one of the leading intellectuals of the time, the theologian and art historian, mentioning this work, he states that his aim is related to Lutheran Protestantism and that he wants to emphasize the cross as the central element. In his writings, Friedrich also draws a connection between the eternal image of Jesus on a tree and the setting sun. It also emphasizes that the cross stands stubbornly on the rock, like unshakable faith in Christ the Redeemer.
For Friedrich, nature is a reflection of the divine spirit. Gothic churches, monasteries, abandoned places of lost faiths of Christian art, and architecture play a major role in Friedrich's narrative. The ruins of Gothic buildings, and the ruins of 16th-century monasteries, symbolizing the time that swallows everything, the emptiness of life and extinction, remain unforgettable images in the history of painting thanks to Friedrich.
The Romantic Period, which included Friedrich, is a period from the beginning of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. Romantic artists pioneered the self-glorification of man, his being a part of nature and the processing of the divinity found in nature and emotions in their works. In accordance with romanticism, Friedrich also chose to reflect individuality, subjectivity, spirituality, and love of nature in his works.
After 1835 the artist is not well psychologically. He becomes even more introverted and melancholic. On June 26, 1835, he was paralyzed by the lack of understanding of the public and the critics, and his suspicion of his wife's betrayal. Friedrich decides to rest in Teplitz. He continues to paint because a certain part of his body is paralyzed, but he produces works in watercolor and sepia. In this process, death symbols appear in his works.
About a year after his illness, we see an owl about to take off from a cross in this painting he made with a sepia-colored pencil. The owl dug its claws into the ground and looks down. We realize that the time is midnight. The owl standing on the cross with a long bar erected on the head of a Christian tomb, as it is known, represents death.
He suffers a second stroke and can no longer paint. He died on May 7, 1840. There are opinions that some kind of mental illness triggers the death process as a result of the extreme emotions he experiences. He is buried in the Trinitatis Cemetery in Dresden.
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https://www.caspardavidfriedrich.org/