The moon, regarded as inspiring, magical, and mysterious, was a popular theme for writers, musicians, and artists in the first part of the 19th century.
Musical compositions from this period include Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and Chopin’s nocturnes.
A Visionary Romantic
Friedrich (1774–1840) is considered the greatest German Romantic artist and the first to showcase humankind’s awe in front of nature. He was born the son of a candlemaker on the shores of the Baltic Sea. He formed a deep connection with nature that would be a constant in his life.
Friedrich received his earliest artistic training in his homeland before studying at the Copenhagen Academy. While there, he was inspired by the work of Danish artists, and his output throughout his career reflected this influence. He settled in Dresden and lived there for 40 years, though he traveled extensively throughout Germany to observe and sketch nature. He became a member of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and associate professor of landscape painting.
In his early career, Friedrich created primarily watercolors and sepia drawings. It was not until 1807 that he began to work in the medium for which he is most famous: oil paint. Correspondingly, the early years of the 19th century saw the growth of the art style termed Romanticism.
‘Two Men Contemplating the Moon’
The first painting in the series is “Two Men Contemplating the Moon,” dating from 1819 through ‘20 and part of Dresden’s New Masters Gallery. It was painted at a time when the artist was exploring less symmetrical compositions, as well as a new focus on pensive foreground figures usually shown as a pair and from behind. Contemporary scholars identify the painting’s figures as Friedrich himself on the right, wearing an Old German beret and cape, and his student August Heinrich (1794–1822) on the left, dressed in a cap and coat. Although this dress code had been banned by the German government of the post-Napoleonic era, the patriotic Friedrich continued to depict figures in this dress for the rest of his career.
The two friends are shown stopping on a late autumn hike to admire the moon, placed at the center and emanating a rust-brown haze that pervades the entire picture. The celestial body is next to a faintly glowing impression of Venus and encircled by trees and stones. These earthly natural elements are as purposefully arranged and precisely detailed as the three-day-old sickle of the waxing moon, though the specific setting is imaginary. The gnarled, uprooted oak tree with bare branches dominates the scene and is symbolic of death. However, as the museum notes, “dry branches reach into the crown of the evergreen spruce, which can be understood as the promise of eternal life.” (Some scholars classify the tree as an evergreen fir.) The nighttime setting projects an infinite peacefulness, allowing both the figures and the viewer space for inner contemplation and dreams.
Heinrich died a few years after this painting was completed. Friedrich gave the picture to their mutual friend Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857), considered the first Norwegian Romantic painter. He kept it until Friedrich’s death in 1840 and then sold it to the museum where it is still housed today. Dahl was greatly influenced by Friedrich and had a distinguished career in his own right. Dahl’s painting “Two Men Before a Waterfall at Sunset,” which shows Dahl and Friedrich in a landscape evocative of Norway, is a beautiful homage to Friedrich and his original “Two Men Contemplating the Moon.”
‘Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon’
“Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon” at the Old National Gallery in Berlin is now dated by art historians to circa 1824 and is believed to be the second work in the series. Although the picture has a number of similarities to the first version, the two most striking differences are the genders of the figures and the atmospheric light.This work shows at early dusk a male and female couple, suggested by some scholars to be Friedrich and his wife, Caroline, gazing at the moon during their walk in a mountain forest. Some curators view the figures as more physically distant from each other than the pairs in the other canvases, giving the impression that they are pictorial devices. Whatever the interpretation, their inclusion communicates humanity’s contemplation of the unknowable and life’s transience.
A Series Finale
The third version, also named “Two Men Contemplating the Moon,” dates to circa 1825–30 and is at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It combines elements of both the first and second versions. The work reverts to how the Dresden painting shows two male friends, believed again to be Friedrich and Heinrich, but retains the rose-mauve luminosity of the Berlin example.
The figures in communion with nature meditate on the moon and evening star (another name for Venus) as seen from a late autumn forest. The atmosphere is considered the most serene of the three works. Intriguingly, the artist made no use of underdrawings when creating this painting. His brushwork is quite fluid, but the picture’s elements are less detailed than the Berlin and Dresden versions.
Friedrich’s pious and meditative works, though admired by eminent patrons and fellow artists, had always baffled a significant portion of the public. During the 1820s, his work fell out of favor. Stricken with illness that limited his production, he died in poverty and nearly forgotten. The Met’s version of “Two Men Contemplating the Moon” was given to his doctor in lieu of payment.
In ensuing decades, Friedrich’s work was rediscovered and revaluated, with masterpieces like his moon paintings entering pop culture and mass reproduction. This year, 2024, is the 250th anniversary of his birth. Museums in his native Germany, along with New York’s The Met, are presenting exhibitions this year and in the next to celebrate his visionary artistic achievements.
