Caspar David Friedrich
- Born:
- September 5, 1774, Greifswald, Pomerania, Swedish Empire (now Germany)
- Died:
- May 7, 1840, Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony (now Germany)
- Nationality:
- German
- Profession(s):
- Painter, Draftsman, Printmaker
Early Life and Education
- Friedrich was one of ten children; his mother died when he was seven.
- Experienced several family tragedies during his youth, including the death of a brother while attempting to rescue him from drowning.
- Began studying art in 1790 with Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Greifswald.
- Attended the Academy of Copenhagen from 1794 to 1798.
- Moved to Dresden in 1798, where he initially worked with pen and ink.
Career and Major Achievements
- Established his reputation with sepia landscapes executed around 1800.
- Awarded half of a prize in 1805 at Weimar for a sepia drawing presented to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
- Became a member of the Dresden Academy in 1816.
- Appointed professor at the Dresden Academy in 1824, though the position was unpaid and not considered prestigious.
- His work influenced the German Romantic movement.
Notable Works
- Tetschen Altar (Cross in the Mountains) (1808)
- Monk by the Sea (1808-1810)
- Abbey in the Oakwood (1809-1810)
- The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818)
- Chalk Cliffs on Rügen (1818)
- Moonrise over the Sea (1822)
Legacy and Impact
Caspar David Friedrich is considered the most important German artist of his generation. He profoundly impacted the Romantic movement with his landscape paintings, imbued with allegory and symbolism, reflecting the spiritual connection between humanity and nature. Studying the "analyse mondaufgang meer caspar david friedrich biography" one gleans how the painter consistently used landscape to express deeper meaning, creating a distinct style of Romantic landscape painting.