Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog: Caspar David Friedrich

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Caspar David Friedrich Oil Painting - Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Keywords: Wanderer, Sea, Fog

Work Overview: Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (Wanderer above the Mist; Mountaineer in a Misty Landscape)
Artist Caspar David Friedrich
Year c. 1819
Medium Oil-on-canvas
Dimensions 98.4 cm × 74.8 cm (37.3 in × 29.4 in)
Location Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (German: Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer), also known as Wanderer above the Mist or Mountaineer in a Misty Landscape,[1] is an oil painting c. 1818[2] by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It currently resides in the Kunsthalle Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.

In the foreground, a young man stands upon a rocky precipice with his back to the viewer. He is wrapped in a dark green overcoat, and grips a walking stick in his right hand.[3] His hair caught in a wind, the wanderer gazes out on a landscape covered in a thick sea of fog. In the middle ground, several other ridges, perhaps not unlike the ones the wanderer himself stands upon, jut out from the mass.[4] Through the wreaths of fog, forests of trees can be perceived atop these escarpments. In the far distance, faded mountains rise in the left, gently leveling off into lowland plains in the east. Beyond here, the pervading fog stretches out indefinitely, eventually commingling with the horizon and becoming indistinguishable from the cloud-filled sky.[3]

The painting is composed of various elements from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Saxony and Bohemia, sketched in the field but in accordance with his usual practice, rearranged by Friedrich himself in the studio for the painting. In the background to the right is the Zirkelstein. The mountain in the background to the left could be either the Rosenberg or the Kaltenberg. The group of rocks in front of it represent the Gamrig near Rathen. The rocks on which the traveler stands are a group on the Kaiserkrone.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is true to the Romantic style and Friedrich's style in particular,[6] being similar to other works such as Chalk Cliffs on Rügen and The Sea of Ice. Gorra's (2004) analysis was that the message conveyed by the painting is one of Kantian self-reflection, expressed through the wanderer's gazings into the murkiness of the sea of fog.[4] Dembo (2001) sympathised, asserting that Wanderer presents a metaphor for the unknown future.[7] Gaddis (2004) felt that the impression the wanderer's position atop the precipice and before the twisted outlook leaves "is contradictory, suggesting at once mastery over a landscape and the insignificance of the individual within it".[3]

Some meaning of this work is lost in the translation of its title. In German, the title is "Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer". Wanderer in German can mean either "wanderer" or "hiker".

The painting has been reused repeatedly, for instance to promote a Canadian musical.[9] It was used as the cover of the board game Fantastiqa.[10] A painting using the same man with his back turned, titled "Wanderer" appears within the computer game Minecraft.[11] The title of the painting is the name of a song in Wolves in the Throne Room's 2009 album Black Cascade. From the 1960s on, Gotthard Graubner's "fog spaces", one of them entitled Erster Nebelraum - Hommage à Caspar David Friedrich (1968) were clearly inspired by Friedrich's Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.[12] In 2008, the painting was used as inspiration for the promotional image of David Tennant as Hamlet at the RSC.[13] The German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, uses this painting on his Decca CD of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner arias. He is pictured face forward replacing the back view of the "Wanderer". The painting is also used on the cover of the Thus Spoke Zarathustra Barnes and Noble Classics edition and on the cover of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Dover Thrift Edition).[14][15] It is used on the jacket cover of John Crowley's novel Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land. The painting is also used on the cover of Acting on Principle Cambridge University Press on Kantian ethics.[16] Canadian musician Ben Caplan references the painting on the cover of his album Birds With Broken Wings featuring a pastiche of Caplan as the wanderer from a different perspective.[17] The painting is on the Deutsche Grammophon cover of the Maurizio Pollini recording of the Schubert Wanderer Fantasy and Sonata in A Minor D 845, catalogue number 2465220. Orig Year 4/1/1987 Discs 1 Recording Time 58 minutes

This particular painting was also used for the back cover to the 1985 album The Confessor by former Eagles guitarist/singer Joe Walsh.

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Friedrich's greatest accomplishment was his ability to turn landscapes into a medium of physiological and spiritual biography. Here, he includes his own portrait within his landscape as a lay figure seen from behind -- a device intended to invite the viewer to look at the world through the lens of the artist's own personal perception.

It would not be an exaggeration to take this picture as the essense of the Romantic approach to art. Here, Friedrich has adapted the generic conventions of landscape painting to the demands of creative self-expression. Unwilling to have the artist serve as a mere "photographer" as it were of nature, Friedrich always took as his task the private and personal encounter of an individual with nature.

Indeed, Friedrich was captivated by the idea of encountering nature in solitude in deepest revines, on the edge of the sea, or as here on the pinncacle of a mountain, which was about as far away from urban civilization as a European man could get. Indeed in his later paintings, Friedrich will continue to stress that the very idea of "self-expression" had to be associated with physical and spiritual isolation. The Romantics believed that any artist who wanted to explore his own emotions, had necessarily to stand outside of the throng of money-making, political gimmickry, and urban noise in order to assert and maintain their positions.

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Some believe Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog to be a self portrait of Friedrich. The young figure standing in contemplation has the same fiery red hair as the artist.

The figure stands in contemplation and self reflection, mesmerized by the haze of the sea fog as if it were a religious and spiritual experience. He wonders in that moment about the unforeseen future.

By placing his back toward the viewer he is not shutting them out - rather he enables them to see the world through his own eyes, to share and convey his personal experience.

Though some believe this to be a self-portrait tradition recounts that the figure in Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog is a particular person, a high-ranking forestry officer, Col. Friedrich Gotthard von Brincken, of the Saxon infantry. He wears the green uniform of the volunteer rangers, those called into service against Napoleon by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

As this man was most likely killed in 1813 or 1814, this painting may also serve as a patriotic tribute.

Though Friedrich painted this scene in his studio, he sketched it at the place of inspiration, Elbsandsteingebirge, in Saxony and Bohemia. He was always greatly inspired by German landscape and deeply moved of the beauty he found in his homeland. He depicts the mountains, the trees, and the heavy mist above the sea.

Friedrich executes a unique composition and employs his famous technique in Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. His use of color and lighting is also notable.

Composition:
Friedrich chose to paint this landscape vertically instead of the much seen horizontal orientation. The upright position of the canvas models the uprightness of the figure in the painting.

Use of technique:
Once again Friedrich employs the Ruckenfugen technique in which he paints the figure with his back towards the viewer. This makes the figure something of a mystery to the viewer - they are unsure what he is thinking or his reaction to the landscape that they too are taking in.

By separating the figure and the viewer, the latter focuses more on the beauty of the surroundings rather than the man's role in nature.

Color palette:
For this composition Friedrich uses a slightly brighter palette than usual. He mixes blues and pinks across the sky with the mountain and rock in the distance echoing these colors. He paints the figure in a dark green coat - typical German attire.

Use of light:
The light seems to be coming up from beneath the rock, somehow illuminating the fog. The rock the mysterious figure stands on remains mostly in silhouette form, though some detail is visible at the top near the figures' feet.

Tone elicited:
As the viewer cannot see the figure's face, the tone is questionable. In line with Friedrich's other works, and the overall Romantic ideal, it seems fitting to believe that this wanderer stands in awe of the spooky nature before him.

His poise is one of a confident man, he leans on his cane, and a relaxed hand rests in his pocket.

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