1774 - 1840

This one is for all you romantics out there … Caspar David Friedrich is one of the greatest Romanticists of the entire movement. He was born in Greifswald, Germany and grew up with nine siblings, before beginning his artistic studies in 1790. The majority of his career was spent in Dresden where he painted some of his most famous pieces. Working near the end of the Romanticist era in Germany, Friedrich’s work eventually became somewhat old-fashioned, though his influence on later generations of artists is undeniable.

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog 1818

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog features elements of the sublime in the natural phenomena of the billowing sea waves. Friedrich’s work often featured references to life and death and this can be arguably shown here in the gentleman facing away from us, as if contemplating his own uncertain future. Friedrich also painted pure, figure-less landscapes exampled here with Seashore by Moonlight (I apologise for the terrible quality image: try and imagine it without a turquoise sheen!) There is a delicate use of light and yet the atmosphere is thick and heavy with vast masses of clouds and sea.

Seashore by Moonlight c.1835-36