And the artist of the week is... !

I've decided that since it would be impossible to talk about the hundreds of artists I learn about in my art history classes, I should focus on one of them per week. I will choose an artist whom I consider to be extraordinary and whose artwork caught my fancy in class. (We go through 10-20 different artists every class period, so only a few of them stick out.)

This week's artist is...

*cue drum roll*

(Psst. Here... I'll give you a clue...)

It's Caspar David Friedrich!

If you don't know who he is, that's fine. I hope you two will be well-acquainted by the end of this post.

Caspar David Friedrich (Sept. 5, 1774-May 7, 1840) was a German romanticist landscape painter who grew up near the Baltic coast. He grew up during a time when people were voluntarily turning away from the materialistic and embracing a more spiritual outlook on life. Friedrich believed that nature was God's creation and he intended to show that through his paintings. Many of them contain subtle religious connotations, the most popular one being the use of the number three.

Take Cross in the Mountains (1807-08) for example.

The three rays of sunlight symbolize the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - the Three in One. I love this painting in particular because of how majestic and well-composed it is.

The Trinity is also indicated in the rocks from Woman in Front of the Setting Sun (1818-20).

Friedrich experienced several tragedies early in his life. His mother died when he was just seven years old. At thirteen, he witnessed the death of his brother who fell through ice in a lake and drowned. He later lost two of his sisters. Even though the essence of melancholy in his paintings would lead us to believe that he was a very serious man, possibly because of his childhood, his friends contended that had a warm sense of humor and a gift for telling jokes.

He first studied art at the University of Greifswald (his home city) where he became influenced by Dutch seventeenth-century landscape painters. He later settled in Dresden, which is where he took up oil painting.

None of Friedrich's paintings contain the frontal view of a person, making them rather mysterious. This is demonstrated by the previous painting, by Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818) [see first painting], in Monk by the Sea (1809-10), and Woman at the Window (1822).


*Side note: I was recently looking through a Dali book and came upon this painting that he did in 1925: (see any similarities?)

Friedrich first studied art at the University of Griefswald (his home city) where he became influenced by Dutch seventeenth-century landscape painters. He later settled in Dresen, which is where he took up oil painting. He became part of the Romantic movement, which was all about depicting heightened states of emotion through art.

All of the landscapes in his paintings are influenced by actual German landscapes, mainly around the Baltic coast where he spent his childhood.

Though the landscape in Nebel (fog) (1807) seems rather mundane, to Friedrich, it was beautiful.

Friedrich experienced much success and was a renowned artist in his lifetime. He suffered a stroke in 1835 which caused partial paralysis, making it very difficult for him to paint. He worked in different mediums for his death in 1840.

The things I love the most about Friedrich's paintings are the color and atmosphere. I think he demonstrated these talents best in my three favorite paintings of his: Moonrise Over the Sea (1822), Cloister Graveyard in the Snow (1819), and The Polar Sea (1823-25).




The naturalism is phenomenal, and I love the mystery that he captures in each one of his paintings. I think he, like many Romantic artists, was way ahead of his time. I mean, doesn't The Polar Sea look like something out of a Sci-Fi flick?

Anyway, I hope you and Caspar David Friedrich are well-acquainted now and will remain good friends in the future.