Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Wanderer above the Sea of ​​Fog is a painting by Caspar David Friedrich from the year 1818.

Description

The picture shows a man in the rear view on a rock overlooking a sea of ​​fog below. The painting was created on motives of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, the so- but do not belong together in space, and in the background shows the right Zirkelstein. It is not clear whether it is in the mountain in the background to the left Rosenberg or Cold Mountain. The rock group before this mountain represents the Gamrig near Rathen dar. In the rock on which the hiker stands, there is a boulder on the imperial crown.

Comment

As with the Chalk Cliffs on Rügen and several other paintings shows Friedrich people from behind when considering a romantic landscape. The back figure that stands as a monument to an increased space which draws the observer into the picture.

The back figure plays a similar role in Friedrich as later with René Magritte. Magritte also worked with individual motifs as with set pieces. The figures from behind, in which Friedrich often can recognize themselves take in his oil paintings from 1807 onwards a central position. ( It is assumed, as Frederick could not very well draw people that his friend Georg Friedrich Kersting, Caspar David Friedrich has also painted in his studio, has some figures painted on Frederick images that has this then be copied on.)

The back figures fulfill an important function as role model. Usually they are positioned so that they cover the vanishing point. Thus, the viewer is encouraged to empathize with the character and devote himself also to the natural phenomenon. Nature serves as a screen for feelings of the viewer, the characters themselves do not constitute individuals

The landscape depicted is not a topographic representation. Because on top " warm " colors and the background preferably "cold " colors are used, produces a color perspective, and the fact that the foreground is dark and sharp, but the background painted brighter and more blurred, there is an air perspective.

Theodore Ziolkowksi recognized in the image has an indirect and negative response to Goethe's romantic criticism and whose claim to Frederick, to orient the design of the picturesque clouds after Luke Howard. The diffuse clouds illustration in The Wanderer Above the Sea of ​​Fog is this demand as its actual implementation Friedrich would have regarded as the end of the painting, exactly the opposite.

Appreciation

On January 3, 2011, the Federal Republic of Germany was a 55 - cent stamp in the series " German painting" with the theme " The Wanderer Above the Sea of ​​Fog " out, see Stamps - Vintage 2011 the Federal Republic of Germany.

Reception

In Robert Lohr's novel The Erlkönig maneuver can be found Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the pose of the walker on the cliffs of the Kyffhäuser again. In addition, the image was used as the album cover of the album Anthem resist will of the German rock band lanterns Joe. The image was seen on the front page of the Mirror of May 8, 1995. Here, the hiker looking down on recent German history.