Table of contents:
- Family drama
- Cross in the mountains
- Marriage and transformation in creativity
- Key ideas in creativity
Video: How the main romantic of Germany Kaspar Friedrich spoke about God with atmospheric landscapes
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Caspar David Friedrich is one of the leading figures in the German romantic movement. Its mysterious, atmospheric landscapes and seascapes proclaimed human helplessness against the forces of nature and did much to establish the idea of the Sublime as the central problem of romanticism.
Family drama
Human helplessness and melancholy, the high feelings of the hero in the paintings are caused by sad events in the life of the artist himself. By coincidence, Frederick knew death very early: his mother, Sophie Dorothea Behli, died in 1781, when Kaspar was only seven years old. At the age of thirteen, Caspar David witnessed how his brother Johann Christoffer fell through the ice of a frozen lake and drowned. According to some reports, Johann Christoffer died while trying to save Caspar David, who also nearly drowned. His sister Elizabeth died in 1782 and his second sister, Maria, died of typhus in 1791. Sad circumstances with loved ones, as well as the artist's immersion in spiritual and mystical poetry, influenced his work and served as the basis for the approval of Caspar David Friedrich as the leader of German romanticism.
Cross in the mountains
Friedrich's first major painting appeared at the age of 34 - "The Cross in the Mountains". The cloud-filled sky is colored in shades of reds, pinks and purples that go from dark to light from top to bottom. The sun's rays come from a distant, invisible horizon. The frame (made by Karl Kuhn after a sketch of Frederick himself) depicts various Christian symbols, including the heads of five little angels, a star, grapes and a vine, corn and the eye of God (wheat and grapes at the bottom of the frame are attributes of the Eucharist, and palm leaves in the upper part means the victory of Christ over death (the people of Jerusalem met Christ with palm branches.) The radiant divine eye against the background of the triangle is a symbol of the Holy Trinity. This picture was exhibited in 1808 and received great publicity, because for the first time in Christian art a pure landscape became an altar panel.
Critics have argued that the landscape cannot function as an altar. It depicts the crucified Christ in profile on the top of Mount Calvary, alone, surrounded by nature. The cross is the highest point in the composition, but viewed obliquely and from a distance. The mountain symbolizes unshakable faith, and the ate - hope ("The cross stands on a rock, as unshakable as our faith in Jesus Christ. Christmas trees grow around the cross, evergreen and eternal, like the hope of people in Him, the crucified Christ"). In response to controversy about the painting, Kaspar had to write a commentary on the defense of his work, where he compared the rays of the evening sun with the light of the Holy Father. The fact that the sun is setting indicates that the time when God reveals himself directly to man is over. Frederick's written interpretation of his own work was the first and last of its kind.
It was a revolutionary reinterpretation of the landscape painting genre, giving it a new level of potential significance. The main idea of Frederick's painting is that the divinity of God is best manifested in nature. In these early paintings, Frederick supported romantic ideals, including the spiritual potential of art and the expression of religious feelings through the power of nature.
In addition to displaying the relationship "human-divine", there are political motives in the works of Caspar David. Before the fall of Napoleon's empire in 1815, many of Frederick's contemporaries interpreted his paintings through the prism of political self-determination and cultural heritage, believing that they promise the people future independence from foreign interference.
Marriage and transformation in creativity
Despite his reputation as a lonely man who once declared: "In order not to hate people, I must avoid their company", marriage to Caroline Bommer in 1818 and the subsequent birth of three children made their own adjustments to the artist's entirely melancholic mood: his canvases became frivolous and fresh. Female figures appear in his works, the palette becomes brighter, and the dominant symmetry and severity diminish. The painting "Chalk Cliffs on the Island of Rugen", painted after the honeymoon, is an excellent example of transformation in the work of Caspar David.
For the first time, the heroes of the paintings of this master are not turned back to the viewer, they are looking at the endless sea. For the first time, the established motive of a lonely person was broken: he began to portray his wife in some works and sometimes portray a couple.
Key ideas in creativity
Based on the analysis of his creative path, a number of key ideas can be identified: ⦁ Deeply psychological landscapes of Friedrich, which often push the viewer into the wilds of nature, create an emotional connection with the viewer. This eclecticism of the spiritual and the natural gave the artist success.
⦁ Despite numerous disputes over the relationship between religion and Friedrich's landscapes, the artist argued that his works always give viewers the opportunity to contemplate the presence of God in the world. Using dramatic perspectives and hazy expanses that overshadowed any figures, Frederick urged the viewer to accept the amazing power of nature as proof of the divine spirit.
⦁ Rejecting the pictorial traditions and canons of landscape painting, Friedrich sang romantic motives. Through his sensitive depictions of fog, darkness and light, the artist conveyed the endless power of the natural kingdom as a reminder of the fragility of human existence.
⦁ Friedrich's subtle color palette and emphasis on light often created an overwhelming sense of emptiness. The visual minimalism was so unusual that his viewers often confused clouds with waves, and water with sky (according to rumors, one group of art lovers who visited his workshop looked at the easel upside down). The muted color and simplicity of the compositions convey the artist's deep ideas.
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