Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich [ANALYSIS] German Romanticism in art 

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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog analysis
Friedrich's oil painting is based on sketches made during a trip to Switzerland. And the fantastic thing is that these sketches dated and divided by physical location in different binders by Friedrich, even if partially lost or partially destroyed, gave the opportunity to study this work and its composition.
We are in Switzerland and the thick fog hides what is found in the mountains. And thus creates a strong sense of mystery. The man is standing right in the middle of the painting and the horizontal lines of distant rocks and slopes guide our attention towards him. The contrast between the dark silhouette of the man standing on the rock and the white fog in the sky is striking. Thus the artist created an image with a strong visual impact, thanks to the composition.
The solitary figure painted by Friedrich gives us his back. So he remains completely anonymous and watches the scene in front of him. Before Friedrich few artists had created works with a main character isolated and completely from the back. An example, however, is Vermeer's Allegory of Painting.
Who is the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog?
The identity of the traveler is not known, but many hypotheses have been made by many German art historians. There are those who think it is Goethe, the writer and poet. However, thanks to the dark green uniform that the traveler wears, there are those who associated him with a colonel of the Saxon infantry who fought the Liberation War and was a victim of it. And finally, there are those who see the figure of this man standing on the rock more as a metaphor for the relationship between man and nature.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog description and details
Indeed, the fog hides most of the landscape, stimulating our imagination in a certain sense. And at the same time it hides the possibility of seeing the mountains in the distance, creating a sense of infinity. It also reflects the light of the sky, and gives the painting a disturbing and almost otherworldly feeling.
The tops of the mountains come out of the fog as if they were rocks emerging from the sea. And since the fog hides the lower landscape, we have no idea how close or far the mountains are. The tiny trees barely visible on some of the peaks are the only thing that gives us a true sense of scale and proportions.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Romanticism
Romanticism is welcomed and carried forward by artists who want to redefine the figure of man and the role of art in a world that is facing great changes. With the French Revolution of 1789 and the advent of Napoleon Bonaparte, European artists felt the need to create works full of ambiguity and chaos. This is also in response to the ideals of the Enlightenment that wanted science and rationality to underpin the perception of the world. And in this work it is as if we were there on the mountain just behind the wayfarer and we were about to experience the same emotions.
Caspar David Friedrich works
To understand Friedrich's style, the historical context must also be considered. In fact, he was born in a German town on the Baltic Sea coast and received a rigid Protestant education. His mother and brother both die young and this has a noticeable effect on him.
After studying in Copenhagen, he moved to Dresden and here he got in touch with the latest ideas on romantic literature and philosophy. In 1807 he begins to paint in oil. His works always depict very suggestive landscapes rich in strong shades, even spiritual or allegorical. He paints very intense landscapes of an almost disturbing beauty that captures the power of nature. And thanks to his works he becomes one of the greatest German romantic artists of the 19th century. For example, one of his paintings, Croce in montagna has aroused many controversies because of the way in which Friedrich fills the landscapes with religious significance.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog Hamburg
Before arriving at the current collection of the Hamburg Museum, it was in the hands of several private collectors and has long disappeared. It was made in 1818 and appears in the memoirs of a German scientist.