Caspar David Friedrich - Abbey among Oak Trees, 1809-1810

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Abbey among Oak Trees, 1809-1810
oil on canvas, 171.0 x 110.4 cm
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Abbey among Oak Trees is the companion piece to Monk by the Sea. Friedrich showed both paintings in the Berlin Academy Exhibition of 1810. At the request of the 15-year-old crown prince, they were bought by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. In their perplexing remoteness and formal radicalism they were to become key works in German Romanticism. In Monk by the Sea a human being stands lost in the apocalyptic loneliness and infinity of nature and the cosmos. He meditates on life and its boundaries. In the companion piece, the gates of death have opened. Monks carry a coffin into a deserted Gothic ruin to hold a requiem mass under the cross. The graveyard with its crooked, sunken tombstones is equally deserted. Bare oaks reach up into the sky as though in complaint. The first light of dawn is appearing over the horizon like an ocher-yellow veil, outshining the tender curve of the crescent moon. The visionary gleam of the heavenly realm is completely detached from the earthly regions, which are still sunk in darkness. One sign of hope is in the two single lights on the crucifix. For the painter Carl Gustav Carus, who was also a friend of Friedrich’s, this painting was “of all recent landscapes, possibly the most deeply poetic work of art.” via

Caspar David Friedrich - Inside the forest in the moonlight, circa 1823

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Inside the forest in the moonlight, circa 1823
oil on canvas, 70.5 cm (27.7 in) x 49 cm (19.2 in)
Alte Nationalgalerie

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) - Uttewalder Grund, 1825

 

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) - Uttewalder Grund, 1825
oil on canvas, 91,5x70,5 cm
Lentos Art Museum, Linz

Enchanted moonlight beams dully over a dramatic rocky landscape. A man is on the left in the picture and it seems that he is most affected by the scenery. This image by Caspar David Friedrich was created in 1825. It is known that the painter himself repeatedly went to the scene to absorb the fascination of this rustic rock landscape of the remote Saxon Switzerland. Today, this location is part of the national park and retreat area for endangered species such as the eagle owl.

Now the painter was first and foremost an artist and not a naturalist. That is why the motif of the picture is to be understood in such a way that the dramatic and the size of the landscape interested him as a symbol for the emotional romance. The gloomy and eerie gorge cast a spell over the painter. The strong effects of contrasts light and dark are created by the full moonlight and the dark pine forest. In between lies a deep forest, covered in clouds of fog, and the fuzzy outline of the steep mountain walls is an intangible location. 

The man is standing in the backlight of the moonlight. His body contours are surrounded by light light. The creek in front of him comes from a waterfall that lies magically hidden in the depths of the landscape. Large boulders have been placed in the creek by the artist. Whether it is a natural image or artistic composition? In any case, the stones guide the viewer's gaze from the front back into the picture. The unspoiled scenery is additionally increased dramatically by fallen trees on the right side of the stream. The image Uttewalder reason initially oppressive and melancholy. On closer inspection, however, the moonlight on the illuminated cloud at the top of the picture and on the watercourse gives a conciliatory light on the landscape. It seems as if the world is at a standstill and the gloomy gorge with the green firs is changing into a protective, self-contained nature. The picture stands for the greatness of nature, the loneliness and the initially perceived menacing darkness. It also brightens up in the romantic sense for a glimpse of the next morning, which will again be supported by the sun's rays.

Via

Caspar David Friedrich - Seashore with Shipwreck by Moonlight, 1830

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Seashore with Shipwreck by Moonlight, 1830

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) - A Walk at Dusk, 1830-1835

 

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) - A Walk at Dusk, 1830-1835

Caspar David Friedrich - Moon Rising over the Sea, 1821

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Moon Rising over the Sea, 1821

Caspar David Friedrich - Moonrise over the Sea, 1822

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Moonrise over the Sea, 1822

Three young people, two women side by side and a man further back, are sitting on a large boulder by the sea, silhouetted against the sky as they watch the moon rising to the east above a band of clouds. In the distance are two sailing vessels, ghosting on a light breeze towards the spectators on the shore. The painting is probably a view of the Baltic Sea, near Friedrich's birthplace in Swedish Pomerania. via

Caspar David Friedrich - Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon, around 1824

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon, around 1824

Pausing on their nocturnal walk through a mountain forest is a couple on a rise beside a dramatically contorted, uprooted oak. Darkness envelops the strollers; their eyes are raised to the reassuring celestial light of the moon that permeates the atmosphere with a solemn stillness. Deep in the moonlit night the trees and rocks acquire strange, almost eerie, dimensions and importance. The two figures are united by their shared experience of the natural world confronting them with an awareness of their transience; together they face the mystery of the unfathomable. via

Caspar David Friedrich - Two Men Contemplating the Moon ca. 1825–30

 

Caspar David Friedrich - Two Men Contemplating the Moon ca. 1825–30 

These are a series of similar paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, the setting being among his best-known works. Friedrich painted at least three versions, with one variation featuring a man and a woman. These German Romantic landscape paintings feature two figures in a dark forest silhouetted by a pastel sky. The works' dark foregrounds and lighter backgrounds create a sharp contrast. The sky suggests that the time is around dusk, with the waxing crescent moon close to setting. A dead, uprooted tree's dark roots and branches contrast with the sky. 

The jagged branches and stark contrasts seem to create a threatening environment for the figures, and are reminiscent of the imposing Gothic style seen originally in the medieval era, but revived in the Romantic era. The same can be said of the dark, shadowy trees and rocks surrounding the couple. The figures themselves are dressed in dark colors and stiff, somewhat formal garments, which also serve to signify their higher class. The works emphasize spirituality in nature and the presence of the sublime, which are major themes of Friedrich. via