Exhibit celebrates 250th anniversary of Caspar David Friedrich’s landscapes
IN BERLIN, a significant exhibition showcasing Caspar David Friedrich’s timeless landscapes commemorates the 250th anniversary of his birth. Berlin holds special significance as the city where Friedrich achieved his artistic breakthrough, notably marked by a pivotal exhibition in 1906.
The show at the German capital’s Alte Nationalgalerie, which organizers presented on Wednesday ahead of its opening to the public Friday, includes some of Friedrich’s best-known works.
Among them are the two paintings that brought him to fame in 1810, “Monk by the Sea” – depicting a lone figure against the background of a dark sea and looming sky – and “Abbey among the Oaks.” The works were bought by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.
Visitors can also look forward to classics such as the dramatic “The Sea of Ice,” “Chalk Cliffs on Rügen” and “The Watzmann,” depicting one of Germany’s highest peaks. The exhibition brings together 115 paintings and drawings by Friedrich, exploring the progress of his career.
Although the paintings are based on painstaking drawings, some of which are part of the exhibition, they “are not a reflection of nature, but are visions on the great philosophical questions of human existence,” museum director Ralph Gleis said.
Gleis described Friedrich as probably the bestknown German painter after Albrecht Dürer.
That wasn’t always the case. Friedrich, who was born in Greifswald in northeastern Germany in 1774 and died in 1840, was largely forgotten in the second half of the 19th century. He returned to public attention thanks to a 1906 exhibition at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie celebrating a century of German art, which contained 93 works by Friedrich and celebrated him as a master of light and atmosphere.
The new show leans in part on that exhibition and features 45 of the works the public in Berlin saw more than a century ago.