Biography of Caspar David Friedrich: Life, Rise and the Heart of Romanticism
Biography of Caspar David Friedrich: Life, Rise and the Heart of Romanticism
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The German artist Caspar David Friedrich is considered one of the leading painters of Romanticism. Friedrich took the traditionally considered unimportant genre of landscape painting and influenced it with profound religious and spiritual meaning, seeking to capture an experience of the infinite.
He became familiar with tragedy from his childhood, losing his mother at the age of seven and two sisters to infant diseases.
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Maybe the most impactful loss was the death of his brother, Johann, who drowned while trying to rescue the then 13-year-old artist from the ice.
In 1790, he began taking drawing lessons with the university professor Johann Gottfried Quistorp. At 20, he enrolled in the Academy of Copenhagen.
Along with studying the old masters he admired, he developed his interest in nature and landscape over the course of his life.
It is worth noting that he also delved into spiritual and mystical poetry that would serve to influence his later work and provide the basis for his role as one of the leaders of Romanticism in Germany.
BIOGRAPHY
Caspar David Friedrich was born on September 5, 1774, in Greifswald, in Germany.
In 1798, the artist completed his studies and moved to Dresden, where he found a public that admired his work.
From these early paintings, Friedrich adopted Romantic ideals, including the potential spiritual power of art and the expression of religious feelings through the power of nature.
He wrote: "The ultimate goal of man is not man, but the divine, the infinite. It is through art, not the artist, that he should strive! Art is infinite, finite all knowledge and skill of artists".
During the Napoleonic Empire period, Friedrich's investment in landscape also had political significance, as he portrayed typically German locations with a sense of pride and power beyond worldly limits.
In 1816, Friedrich had already gained recognition as one of the leaders of the Romantic movement in Germany, being elected to the Academy of Art in Dresden, thereby ensuring his financial stability.
In 1818, the artist married Caroline Bommer, with whom he had three children.
The marriage had an immediate impact on his career, as evidenced by the fact that during this period he began to portray his wife in some of his paintings.
The recognition he received with the works Monk by the Sea and Abbey in a Oak Forest earned him the attention and patronage of important international figures.
The paintings were exhibited at the Academy of Berlin and acquired by Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig of Prussia, who bought the two paintings.
In his Monk by the Sea, most of the canvas shows only an empty sky.
In 1816, Friedrich had already gained recognition as one of the leaders of the Romantic movement in Germany, being elected to the Academy of Art in Dresden, thereby ensuring his financial stability.
In 1818, the artist married Caroline Bommer, with whom he had three children.
The marriage had an immediate impact on his career, as evidenced by the fact that during this period he began to portray his wife in some of his paintings.
The ruling family continued to support the artist until his liberal political views made him fall out of favor.
His friend and fellow artist Gerhard von Kügelgen was assassinated, which caused a severe depression in the artist.
During the 1820s, his career suffered due to a growing interest in Realism and Naturalism in German art.
Not long after, he fell ill, unable to produce until 1826.
To understand the rest of this journey, continue to our next article: Biography of Caspar David Friedrich: Decline, Legacy and Analysis of Masterpieces.
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