DOCUMENT 21.3: Ruins of the Oybin Monastery, ca. 1835, and The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818: Ch21-bx1-003

DOCUMENT 21.3

Casper David Friedrich Ruins of the Oybin Monastery, ca. 1835, and The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818

The paintings of the German romantic artist Casper David Friedrich (1774–1840) might have served admirably as illustrations for Staël’s On Germany. In many of his paintings, a single individual is shown lost in contemplation, enveloped in his or her emotional response to the power of the natural world or the nostalgic pull of the distant past. As viewers, we are invited to adopt the same attitude to the image in front of us. We are not meant to analyze. We are meant to immerse ourselves. As you examine these two paintings, ask yourself how a romantic might have responded to them. What romantic themes might such a viewer have identified in Friedrich’s work?

Ruins of the Oybin Monastery, ca. 1835

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Figure false: (Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia/The Bridgeman Art Library)

The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818

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Figure false: (Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany/The Bridgeman Art Library)

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

  1. Question

    What do the paintings tell you about Friedrich’s attitude toward nature? What qualities did he associate with the natural world?

  2. Question

    What connections did Friedrich make between nature and the medieval past in Ruins of the Oybin Monastery? In what ways is this a quintessential romantic painting?