Caspar David Friedrich's "Metaphysical Dimension"

1/25/2022

Though he is considered the most important German painter of his generation, I sense many people are not really all that familiar with the works of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840).

No, wait a minute -- that's not quite right. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say most people are familiar with some of Friedrich's famous creations, but are largely unaware of Friedrich himself.

For example, I imagine almost everyone has come across an image of this painting at some point . . .

Der Wanderer Über dem Nebelmeer (Wanderer Above a Sea of Fog) - circa 1817

. . . but I sense that only a handful of people who have encountered this painting can name the artist.

I know I couldn't when I first saw it . . . and then saw it again . . . and again.

Friedrich was primarily a landscape painter. Even better, he was a Romantic landscape painter, which means his landscapes communicate a subjective and emotional response to the natural scenes he depicted. He was also fond of including human figures in his landscapes, but in a way that, according to Wikipedia, set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension."

The Friedrich landscape that sparks the biggest subjective and emotional response in me is his The Evening Star -- for the simple reason that it so very much resembles the landscape I currently inhabit here in western Hungary, which makes the whole "metaphysical dimension" aspect of the painting easily accessible and comprehensible.

Der Abendstern (The Evening Star) - circa 1830

5 Comments

bruce charlton

1/25/2022 21:54:03

Probably my favourite painter - in that I have spent more *time* looking at his work than any other painter's.

https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/search?q=caspar+david

I bought a big lavish German language book of his major works on a holiday in the Black Forest region (I just reached out and opened it!) - plus the interweb is full of good reproductions.

A poster of Wanderer... (above) was in my office at work, for many years. I first saw it on the cover of a Penguin Nietzsche translation, where it seemed to fit the author's self-image - but, of course, CFD was actually a romantic *Christian* - unlike Nietzsche.

Francis Berger

1/26/2022 08:14:53

@ Bruce - Yes, there is a special quality about CFD and his work -- and thanks for pointing me to your own posts about CFD. I enjoyed reading them.

I intend to explore the artist and his paintings much more thoroughly than I have thus far. I'm currently working on a response to his "Cross in the Mountains", which I have thus far interpreted as a par excellence work of Romantic Christian art.

It's interesting that you mention the cover of the Penguin edition of Nietzsche (I think the book was Ecce Homo). That is where I first encountered The Wanderer. I originally included this detail in the post, but for some reason decided to delete it before publishing. Fittingly enough, the detail made it's way back to the post regardless.

1/26/2022 09:13:09

Yes, Ecce Homo was the first (of not many!) works by Nietzsche I managed to read straight through. This doesn't come across in translation - but some respectable authorities regard EH as the greatest example of German prose, for all its obvious waxing insanity.

CDF is a good example of the distinction between favourite and best in the world of the arts. He is clearly a very good painter - but I would not, artistically, regard him as in the same class as Rembrandt, for instance; who is probably 'the best' painter by my evaluation. Nonetheless, CDF is one of my *favourites*!

(So are some other extremely different painters from CDF - such as John Singer Sargent, Raeburn/ Reynolds/ Romney/ Ramsay and Gainsborough. In general I am more moved by portraits than landscape - and would much rather spend my time in a portrait gallery than a general art gallery. But CDF is the exception - with his human figures usually distant and/or painted from behind.)

1/26/2022 14:31:59

@ Bruce - That's a good point about the distinction between favorite and best -- and I agree, I wouldn't consider CFD among the best, but he certainly is among my favorites.

Just out of curiosity, if you're drawn to portraits more than landscapes, how do you feel about the work of Philip de László? He was a Hungarian transplant to the Anglo world in the early 20th century who ended up painting many famous and esteemed Brits and royals.

1/26/2022 16:40:04

I have never heard of Philip de László - but looking through a couple of dozen reproductions on the web my immediate impression is that he was an absolutely superb technician, and a *very* good portraitist indeed - maybe as good as any I have seen (but I would need to spend a while with the pictures to be confident).

Once one looks away from the faces, as *pictures*, his miss out on the first rate by appearing unfinished - sketchy - my guess is that he was working very fast, churning-out portraits, and probably the price did not allow for the 'luxury' of a complete picture, considered in all its aspects.

So (I guess) he did the necessary - the face, mainly, with full 'finish'; and not the peripheral parts of the canvas. I saw one or two where he had painted more of the clothes (e.g. velvet), and included colour - and these seemed superbly done.

It could be that he was potentially in the class of Tissot & Alma-Tadema, or even Sargent - but these others provided rich and complete pictures to surround their best portraits; and this is more satisfying.

Obviously I'd like to see his work IRL; bot sometimes even this kind of face-focused sketchy portrait can be deeply satisfying - as with some of Gainsborough's daughters, which I have seen 'live' and was entranced-by

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-the-painters-daughters-with-a-cat

But that had the special quality of a father's tenderness permeating it.

Regardless, I will surely investigate more - thanks!

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Caspar David Friedrich's "Metaphysical Dimension"

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