Caspar David Friedrich

Like hardly any other artist Caspar David Friedrich influenced the fine arts of German Romanticism. He is particularly renowned for his sensitive depiction of atmospheric landscapes. He found the subjects primarily in the surroundings of native region. In 1801 and 1802 he already lived in Dresden but spent the summer on the island of Rügen producing a multitude of studies which he frequently was to rework in later years. However, in his entire body of work, nature stands for itself but as a metaphor for the fate of man. Man himself is mostly reproduced just as a silhouette, tiny in the context of sublime creation. "Wanderer above the sea mist" follows this principle just as does "Seashore at moonshine", his last painting just before his death by apoplexy. Both canvasses, like dozens of others of his paintings - are possession of the Hamburg Kunsthalle, which exhibits one of the most substantial collections of 19th century art. Another important collection of masterpieces by the romanticist can be admired in Berlin's Old National Gallery on the Museum Island.