He is emblematic of the journey toward self-discovery, which is, after all, is at the root of identity. Invite art history to your home and office and get the prints of the classic art. The painter himself stands on the rocky outcropping lost, we presume by the stance, in melancholic thought induced by the wild and shrouded landscape. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich high-quality print. The figure is not a random person plucked from obscurity it happens to be Friedrich himself.
![wanderer above the sea wanderer above the sea](https://paintingvalley.com/images/the-wanderer-above-the-sea-of-fog-9.jpg)
While not concerned the figure’s identity, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog nonetheless delves into the notion of identity, at least in the way the Romantics might have pondered it. At the time, a mountain pinnacle such as the one depicted in Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog would have been ideal, for it was as far away from human civilization as any European could reasonably get. The vast scene unfolds in foggy atmospheric perspective. The solitude of remote locales became the optimal environment in which to experience the true physical and spiritual isolation, necessary in itself to emotional depth and a deep understanding of the self. In Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, Friedrich conveys the majesty of an untouched landscape. The Romantics believed in the transformative power of the untrammeled landscape. Partially as a reaction to the growing industrialization in Europe, the Romantic movement wound itself around the idea that strong emotion-including shock, horror, fear, awe-and sensitivity was a necessary and desired part of the aesthetic experience. The French sculptor David d’Angers reputedly observed of Friedrich: “Here is a man who has discovered the tragedy of landscape.” Thus he perfectly summed up the Romantic’s notion of the natural world. Working at the height of German Romanticism, Friedrich’s paintings referenced nature, not only as the antithesis to human civilization, but as the conduit to experience our deeper selves. He’s largely there as a symbolic reminder that this untamed landscape is the vehicle by which we humans experience heightened emotion. The “wanderer” deliberately turns his backside to us, assuming the stance of contemplation. Nor is he the variety of puny figure found in some landscapes, who are present mostly to demonstrate the monumental scale of the natural world.
![wanderer above the sea wanderer above the sea](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/85/b7/66/85b76679003999b1409ff7fa8c718526.jpg)
The figure in Caspar David Friedrich’s landscape does not greet us or proudly point the way to the majestic landscape behind him. It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.Ĭaspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, ca.
#Wanderer above the sea series#
The boulder’s dramatic sillouette inspired by the jagged sandstones atop the Kaiserkrone, or “imperial crown” another table hill near the Zirkelstein.Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of posts on portraits featuring sitters’ backsides. Even the rocks the titular wanderer stands on seems to have been pulled from nature. Below the Zirkelstein is the Gamrig, a rock formation that overlooks the village of Waltersdorf. When comparing Mary Shellys Frankenstein and Caspar David Friedrichs Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog there is one main theme that they share, the theme of. The strange, vertical pillar in the far distance to the right of the figure is likely based on the Zirkelstein, a table hill topped by a 130ft tall sandstone rock on the border between Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Below the mountain a fingered rock craig seems to represent million-year-old Bastei rock formation.
![wanderer above the sea wanderer above the sea](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/be/06/83/be06833ee18a2857e484cce5b661903b.jpg)
The distant mountain peak to the left of the figure resembles either the Kaltenberg peak in Austria or the Růžovský vrch, the Rosenberg mountain. Friedrich described his approach to landscape painting saying “The artist should paint not only what he has in front of him but also what he sees inside himself.” Friedrich brought this practice to the Wanderer, splicing together a variety of landscapes from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Saxony, that he'd previously sketched in person.