Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German: the Soul of Nature 

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY through May 11, 2025

 

This was the first ever exhibition of the artist’s work held in North America.

I habitually take the Met’s rotation of exhibitions for granted.

I express my appreciation here for the effort it has taken to mount an exhibition in which 70 of 75 objects displayed came from Europe; and for the depth of the Met’s curatorial knowledge and generosity.

 

 

Self-Portrait, 1830, black chalk on wove paper.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Loaned by SMK, National Gallery of Denmark to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025

 

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The sublime describes a certain quality to which the emotional response is awe. 

 

This quality is of a vastness and complexity so large that it is incalculable. Such vastness may inhere in a physical reality; or a moral or aesthetic construct; or a metaphysical or spiritual experience.

 

Experience by the mind/body of this vastness stills the ego and fills the mind/body with awe.

 

A definition of awe is a universal experience felt upon an encounter of a mystery whose dimensions are much vaster than the individual’s frame of reference.

 

The primary subject of Caspar David Friedrich’s work is the sublime in nature.

 

The artist’s work is associated with the Romantic movement. Originating in Europe in the late 18th century, it came as a riposte to the emphasis on the intellect and the rational in the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.

 

The Romantic movement concentrated on passion; the subjective, the imaginative, the intuitive, the emotions, the nurturing of the soul.

 

The natural world is a pre-eminent source in Romanticism for the nurturing of the soul; as also were reverence for the pre-Industrial world with its attachment to order, hierarchy, and crafts; also a reverence for Christianity as it had been practiced for centuries. 

 

Friedrich is considered as being the first to have made Nature his focus as opposed to man in Nature.

 

Human figures in Friedrich’s work are usually shown in minuscule form, often from the rear (Rückenfigur), and occasionally in profile; or in the near-dark and usually with no clear distinguishing features. In some images, his figures display gestures of  joy, exultation, acceptance, awe. In others, his creatures are on the move, wandering, searching for an experience of the unknown, the vivifying.

 

 

 

Rock Arch in the Utterwalder Grund, c. 1803, brown ink and wash over pencil on wove paper

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Loaned by Museum Folkwang, Essen to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

Caspar David Friedrich’s image – The Wanderer above the Sea Fog – is his most famous.

The image is different from all other images presented in nature in this exhibition: 

 

 

 

 

 

Here a human figure has some particularity.  You cannot see his face but you can tell the colour of his hair (the artist seems to have had red-gold hair also).  He is wearing crushed green velvet.

He is not moving. He is making no gesture.  He is the focus of the image, undiminished by his environment and of a piece with it.

This human figure is part and parcel of Nature.  He is as much a feature of  Nature as if he were a tree, rooted.  He is Nature.

 

 

 

 

Wanderer Above the Sea Fog, c. 1817, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Permanent loan to the Hamburger Kunsthalle from the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen. Loaned by the former to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025  

This image was created from drawings made of rock formations southeast of Dresden, combining different sites into a single view.

 

Themes in this artist’s work, taken from the Romantic canon, include travelers wandering in nature in search of the experience of the unknown and yearning for distant places (Fernweh); yearning also for solace and solitude;  

 

 reverence for nature detailed in images of the atmospherics of weather; of the moon (mortality) and the evening star (renewal); trees and forests; mountains, the ocean.

 

Reverence for religion as in his paintings of derelict Gothic church buildings  which expose the melancholy of a faith disrupted by the modern era.

 

The Christian crucifix positioned in a natural setting is a much repeated image of the artist and was a popular commission among the German elite. 

 

 

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Born in Greifswald on the German Baltic coast (then Swedish Pomerania), Friedrich studied in Copenhagen.  In 1798, he settled in Dresden.

His early ink wash paintings established his reputation for their technical expertise and their Romantic themes.

 

 

 

 

Figures Contemplating the Moon, c. 1799; black ink, transparent and opaque watercolour, and touches of pink and yellow chalk on wove paper. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Private loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Friends Beneath a Tree, 1801, brown ink and wash over traces of pencil on wove paper.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatlich Kunstmuseumlungen Dresden loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 A page from a sketchbook which shows horses legs at the bottom of the page.

 

 

 

 

View of Arkona with Rising Moon, 1805-06, brown ink and wash over pencil on wove paper. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. The Albertina Museum, Vienna loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

The artist, a practiced hiker, made extensive sketches in pencil en plein air.  Often he finished an image from memory in his studio.

 

 

 

The Cross in the Mountains, c. 1806, brown ink and wash over pencil on wove paper

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

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In Dresden, the artist worked in a like-minded community of artists:  Among these was his friend and colleague, the Norwegian-born Johan Christian Dahl, who came to live in Dresden.

 

 

 

 

Mother and Child by the Sea, 1830, oil on canvas

Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian, 1788-1857.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Dahl identified the figures on the shore as the wife and child of a fisherman on the approaching boat.  Dahl’s father was a fisherman.  Two of his children died in the before this painting was completed. 

 

 

 

 

                Caspar David Friedrich in His Studio, 1811, oil on canvas

 Georg Friedrich Kersting, 1785-1847, German. Hamburger Kunsthalle loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025

 

 

 

A Portal of a Church, 1820s, watercolour and brown ink, heightened with white opaque watercolour, on wove paper.

Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, 1797-1855, German. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

Oehme was a student of Friedrich.  The water is believed to be symbolic of birth, baptism and renewal.

The tombstone on the left bearing this inscription: Time passes. Death comes, is a reference to the salvation promised by Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

Gothic Windows in the Ruins of the Monastery at Oybin, 1828, oil on canvas

Carl Gustav Carus, 1789-1869, German. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY from whose website this photo

A doctor of both medicine and philosophy, Carus was also a painter and a student of Friedrich.

 

 

 

 

 

Wanderer in the Storm, 1835, oil on canvas.

Julius von Leypold (1806-1874), German. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Julius von Leypold was a Dresden artist of the next generation who associated both with Friedrich and Dahl from the 1820s onwards

 

 

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Here a chronological presentation of some of the works in this exhibition.

 

 

 

Morning Mist in the Mountains, probably 1807-08; oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Thuringer Landesmuseum Heldeeksburg, Rudolstadt loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Monk by the Sea, 1808-10, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Landscape, 1811, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatliche Schlosser, Garten und Kunstsammlungen Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, Schwerin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Ruins at Oybin, c. 1812, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. On permanent private loan at Hamburger Kunsthalle loaned

to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

The ruins of a Celestine monastery the artist found on one of his hikes.

 

 

 

 

Cross in the Forest, c. 1812, oil on canvas 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatsgalerie Stuttgart loan to the Metropolitan Museum of  Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

The Chasseur in the Forest, 1813-14, oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Private collection loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025

It is a French soldier that Friedrich, a fervent nationalist, depicts here.  A raven is watching the Frenchman’s retreat into the forest.

 

 

 

 

Cross By the Baltic Sea, 1815, oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Private loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Greifswald in Moonlight, oil on canvas, c. 1815-17.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design, Oslo loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

                       Neubrandenburg, c. 1816-17, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifwald loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Dolmen in Autumn, c. 1820, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

Believed to mark an ancient tomb, this dolmen was one of several painted by Friedrich. 

Its associations with the idea of a heroic and enduring past was meaningful in the period of Napoleonic incursion in the early 1800s and the repressive monarchies which followed to the artist’s great disappointment.

 

 

 

The artist married in 1818 and had three children. He involved his family in his work. His paintings of of adults and children studying the natural environment together date to the time after the birth of his children.

 

 

 

 

Woman at the Window, 1822, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

This painting is thought to have had a very great influence on the oeuvre of the Danish artist, Vilhelm Hammershøi, 1864-1916.

 

 

 

 

Meadows near Greifswald, 1821-22, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Hamburger Kunsthalle loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Moonrise Over the Sea, 1822, oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

A yearning for places and experiences unknown is a tenet of Romanticism.

 

 

 

 

Woman Before the Rising or Setting Sun, 1818-24, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Museum Folkwang, Essen loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

Two Men Before a Waterfall, 1823, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

 

 

Evening, 1824, oil on canvas mounted on hardboard

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Kunsthalle Mannheim loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

View from the Chapter House of the Ruined Holy Cross Monastery at Meissen, c. 1824; watercolour over pencil on wove paper. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

Rocky Reef off the Seacoast, c. 1824, oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Evening October 1824, oil on canvas mounted on board.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Private loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

View of the Baltic Sea, c. 1820-25, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Kunstpalast Dusseldorf loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

Southern Coast of Rugen with a Distant View over Having Bay towards Greifswalk, 1824-25,  watercolour over pencil on wove paper.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale) loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

 Rock Formation in the Elbsandsteingebirge, circa 1825-28.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German.  Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025.

Image by Karsten Moran for The New York Times

 

 

 

 

 

The Watzmann, 1820-22, watercolour over charcoal on wove paper.

  August Heinrich, German, 1794-1822.  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

 

 

 

 

The Watzmann, 1824-25, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – to whom it has been loaned by a private organization – loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Spruce Thicket in the Snow (From the Dresden Heath I)

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Neue Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Oak Tree in the Snow, 1827-28, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

Two Men Contemplating the Moon, 1825-30, oil on canvas. 

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

 

Museum guidance is that one of these men is August Heinrich, Friedrich’s pupil, and the other may be Friedrich. 

The man on the right wears a medieval-style cloak and beret, an outfit banned after 1819 because it was associated with politically liberal student groups at a time when a conservative elite was consolidating political power.

 

 

 

 

Mountain Landscape in Bohemia, c. 1830, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Hamburger Kunsthalle loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

The Evening Star, c. 1830, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Frankfurter Goethe Museum, Frankfurt am Main loan to the  Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

The star – Venus – is barely visible along the vertical midline of the composition. 

The 3 children are the artist’s.  They boy’s gesture is of joy or exultation.

 

 

 

 

Cemetery in Moonlight with Owl, 1834;brown ink and wash with pencil on wove paper.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Louvre, Paris loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

The Stages of Life, 1834, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Museum der bildenden Kunste Leipzig loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

Museum guidance is that these figures are believed to be from left: Friedrich, his nephew Karl Heinrich; Friedrich’s children Gustav and Agnes; and either his wife, Carolina or his eldest daughter, Emma. 

The continuity of life is suggested by the fingers pointed at the children by two adults on either side of them.

 

 

 

 

Neubrandenburg on Fire, oil on canvas, 1834.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Hamburger Kunsthalle loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

Museum guidance on this painting is that it is unfinished and shows how extensive were the artist’s under-drawing.  Below the buildings, Friedrich began applying the colors to portray roads and fields.  This painting does not refer to an actual event in the artist’s lifetime but major fires did occur in the city several times in the century prior.

 

 

 

 

                                    Mountain Peak with Drifting Clouds, c. 1835, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Kimball Art Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

Sunburst in the Riesengebirge, c.1835, oil on canvas.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Saint Louis Art Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

A tiny hut at the top left places the entire focus on the natural environment and not on human presence.

 

 

 

 

 

The Riesengebirge, c. 1830-35; oil on canvas

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

 

 

A Walk At Dusk, oil on canvas, c. 1830-35.

Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. The J. Paul Getty Museum loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

Dusk, a dolmen, the moon, the evening star (the planet Venus) were images the artist used often to denote death and rebirth and the transcendence of death through memory. 

The figure, thought to have been the artist, is in a pose of mourning or reverence.

 

 

 

 

Cave in the Harz, c 1837; brown ink and wash with pencil on wove paper.

 Caspar David Friedrich, 1774-1840, German. The Royal Danish Collection, Copenhagen loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY in 2025

 

 

 

In 1835, the artist suffered a first stroke which left him with great difficulty in painting. 

By 1838, his work was not selling. In 1840, the artist died in relative poverty and in social isolation.  

His oeuvre remained in deep shadow for 60 years after his death.

Friedrich’s work has twice been associated with German nationalism: the first was during the Napoleonic incursion in the earliest years of the 19th century and in the period thereafter when conservatives won political control of German states to the artist’s disappointment.

 

Second, and to its great misfortune, this work was adopted by Adolf Hitler as a distillation of patriotism and an exhibition of allegiance to the supposed superiority of Germanic ideals and the related unholy idea of white supremacy.

 

Interest revived in Friedrich’s work in the first decade of the 20th century.

 

Back into shade and tainted by association with the Nazis in mid-century, the artist’s work cycled back into the light in the 1970s.  Many of his most famous paintings had, by this time, been lost because of mismanagement, neglect, or accident. 

 

Caspar David Friedrich’s time may have come again for the technical excellence of his skills and the dedication of his energy and time to representing the actual and symbolic import of a natural environment which our civilization has made secondary to other concerns. 

When it is all we have.

 

 

 

 

                Caspar David Friedrich in His Studio, 1811, oil on canvas

 Georg Friedrich Kersting, 1785-1847, German. Hamburger Kunsthalle loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025