An extraordinary exhibition has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature” (through May 11, 2025). It offers the rare opportunity to see a symphonic assemblage of over 75 paintings and drawings by the German Romantic artist in the United States. Masterworks that have never traveled before to the country, such as “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and “Monk by the Sea,” are juxtaposed with all five of the Friedrich paintings in American museum collections.
German Romanticism
Friedrich (1774–1840) was born in Greifswald, a town on the Baltic Sea. He studied art in his hometown and trained in Denmark at the Copenhagen Academy before settling in the Germanic city of Dresden. Landscape and seascape feature prominently in his work, in addition to cityscape.
For four decades, Friedrich went on frequent sketching trips throughout Germany to capture nature in drawings that would inform the paintings he created in a studio. He was a member of the Berlin Academy and Dresden Academy, and in 1824 he was awarded a professorship at the latter.
Friedrich’s art reflects the summit of Romanticism’s principles of humankind’s emotional response to the natural world. Themes throughout his work include meditations on solitude, mystery, yearning, spirituality, emotion, and the individual. He explored them through light and shadow, composition, color, and perspective. Much of his art encapsulated the concept of the sublime: beauty and grandeur combined with danger and terror.
Friedrich, renowned for his paintings today, did not begin exhibiting in this medium until 1808. Interestingly, he was known as a draftsman and printmaker before then. The Met exhibition is organized by chronology and theme, so it begins with his early works on paper. The viewer sees how, from the start, the artist was experimenting with perspective, composition, and subject.
‘Rückenfigur’ Motif
The powerful painting “Monk by the Sea” from 1808 to 1810, an early example of Friedrich’s work in oil, encapsulates the artist’s investigations into an individual’s emotional connection with vast, awe-inspiring nature.
As in many of his works, he utilized the “Rückenfigur” motif, which translates as “back-figure.” Painting people from behind promotes an air of mystery and evokes questions from the viewer. In this picture, the choice of a monk connotes mystical insight. Friedrich described his painting as a representation of “the unknowable hereafter ... the darkness of the future! Which is only ever sacred intuition, to be seen and recognized only in belief.” This work, innovative in its depiction of infinite solitude, caused a stir upon its exhibition in Berlin, and it was bought by the Prussian king.
A celestial motif runs throughout Friedrich’s oeuvre, with the moon and evening star (another name for the planet Venus) showcased in some of his most famous works. These heavenly bodies were considered symbolic of mortality, renewal, fate, and hope during the Romantic period. They allow Friedrich to experiment with light and horizon lines, creating otherworldly vast expanses.
The star of “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature” is the artist’s “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.” This painting is arguably the most famous one from the entire Romantic movement, an indelible image of the sublime that is in the public consciousness. It is thrilling to see in person.
The man, with his back to the viewer, overlooks a mysterious vista. The viewer is transfixed by every detail—the man’s green velvet suit, the texture of each rocky crag, and the brushstrokes that conjure clouds, wind, and mists. Mountains are a constant in Romantic paintings, and Friedrich was an experienced hiker. In this painting, Friedrich drew on his sketches of steep formations southeast of Dresden. He amalgamated different locations and adjusted proportions to create the natural structures in “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog.”
Friedrich’s Final Works
Friedrich was successful in the first part of his career, but his style of painting fell out of public favor by the late 1820s and early 1830s. His final years were marked by ill health: He had a stroke in 1835 and could no longer paint as a result. However, he continued to be creatively inspired and was able to make wash drawings with great skill.
13 9/16 inches by 17 3/16 inches. The King's Reference Library, The Royal Danish Collection. Courtesy of The Met
A remarkable work at the end of the exhibit is “Cave in the Harz.” This dazzling drawing from circa 1837 shows what might be an ancient burial chamber in Saxony. Themes of mortality crescendo in Friedrich’s final works. Experimenting until the end, Friedrich does not include sky or a horizon line, but rather a tightly cropped composition of rock face that allows him to explore texture, space, and light.
The mesmerizing drawings and paintings by Friedrich on display at The Met encapsulate how landscape can be a portal to the sacred unknown. They encourage the viewer to go on their own journey of inquiry and discovery. Friedrich’s enigmatic artworks invite immersion and introspection, imparting viewers with a renewed appreciation of nature.
