Did Caspar David Friedrich, the Romantic Artist, Ignore His Viewers in Revolutionary Rückenfigur Paintings?

Caspar David Friedrich | Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon

Can a painter ever risk ignoring viewers? Then why was Caspar David Friedrich, one of the renowned German Romanticism artists of the early 19^th century criticized for making the viewers unhappy? What was his contribution to the Romantic ideology? What motivated him to become a worshipper of melancholy? Why did he prefer the technique of Rückenfigur? Was it a trend that triggered new artistic exploration for his successors?

There are too many queries to handle at one go. So, let’s break them into logical parts and revisit the time of the great painter-artist Caspar David Friedrich, who made some remarkable contributions to the romantic art of the era, even if his paintings faced severe criticism during the Nazi Movement of the 20^th century, when Nazis used his creations for allegedly promoting German nationalism!

Caspar Friedrich: One of the Eminent Romanticism Artists

Caspar David Friedrich | View of a harbor

While we think of the passionate artists of the Romanticism era, we must pay our reverence to the eminent German landscape artist Caspar David Friedrich, who was drawn to the appreciation for spiritualism during the prevailing materialism in the society.

His blending horizons, using nature as a metaphor in Romanticism art, painting fogs, bare trees, or mountains as spiritual symbols made one thing clear that he was keen on the inner eye rather than what was there to see in the outside world, or making physical references to his metaphysical quests.

‘Close your physical eye so that you can see your picture first with the spiritual eye.’ – Caspar David Friedrich

This was how he used to look through his spiritual lens, as shared with one of his students. 

The Romanticism Artist Wanted to Become a Clergyman

Caspar David Friedrich | The Sea of Ice

Did you know that this famous painter was greatly inspired by the Lutheran Church and wanted to be religiously devoted as a clergyman? Caspar David Friedrich paintings show his religious inclinations and the spiritual depth from the very onset while he was contemplating on a unique career.

Besides, he suffered an emotional loss after his brother’s tragic death in childhood. His brother died while he was trying to save Caspar when he fell through ice. The artist couldn’t help the sense of guilt haunting him for the rest of his life, and thus his creations bore the melancholy and the gloom, which also made his art criticized in his lifetime but later appreciated by true art lovers.  

One of his acclaimed paintings ‘Sea of Ice’ has the memories of that loss and tragedy reflected, as some art critics comment.

What Made Caspar David Friedrich Paintings So Introverted and Somber?

Caspar David Friedrich | Rocky landscape in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains

Caspar Friedrich was a recluse by nature and often liked to distance himself from his fellow artists and avoided social gatherings. He loved solitude and often would not attend his own exhibitions to stay away from crowds.

This kind of withdrawal was not appreciated by the art fraternity and he was much criticized for his cold manners. But Caspar David lived in his sublime world trying to connect with the metaphysical truth and nature in all its ruthlessness and fatalism.

What Was Special About His Vast, Atmospheric Landscapes like The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog?

Caspar David Friedrich | Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog shows a traveler turning his back to the viewers, experiencing a misty seascape, contemplating on the vastness and sublimity of nature. The painting is one of his much-talked-about atmospheric landscapes where he had played with light to capture the mysterious glow and the mist, referring to the unpredictability of the human journey. The stillness and the intensity of the whole image make us think of a rare connection we have with Mother Nature.

What Was the Technique of Rückenfigur in Most of Caspar’s Landscape Paintings?

In the early 19^th century, it was quite an unconventional technique to show the back views in landscape paintings. While every nature portrait or landscape painting depicted the subject with much clarity, his works would reflect the technique of Rückenfigur, where figures would turn their back to conceal their identities. No wonder it was a much revolutionary style to introduce which was later followed by contemporary cinematographers and photographers.  

This technique was a specialty of German Romantic painting, but profoundly associated with the landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich, who was trying to experiment with this ‘second-order observation’ where we observe what the other person is observing. How the primary observer experiences the view makes us conscious of their standing, philosophy, and emotions.

In spite of his philosophical and sentimentally rich portrayals, Caspar David Friedrich's Rückenfigur artworks fetched less popularity and much criticism for deliberately ignoring the ‘viewers’ by turning their back towards them.

The Artist Who Was More Fascinated with Winter than Summer!

Caspar David Friedrich | Winter Landscape with Church

This sublime painter hardly painted the warmth of summer in his nature artworks, as he was more intrigued with the somber, isolated, and the transitional vibes of the seasons like autumn, fall, and winter. He could find deeper human truth with the seasonal portrayals in contrast to the shine and glow of the summer season.

He would often hike in the mountains alone to capture the rare glow of the dawn, seeping through the pipe forests, the mystic light that stirred and inspired him like anything. He would intensely observe the changing morning light, giving off an ethereal glow that he captured in some of his phenomenal paintings.

Caspar also designed his studio with exact light angles with north-facing windows to understand the movement of light better, contemplating on the casting shadows affecting the emotions in the images.

Friedrich’s Legacy Lost and Found: Tale of a True Wanderer and a Lover of Minimalist Art

Eldena Monastery Ruins and Giant Mountains | Caspar David Friedrich

Nature has a pivotal role to play in most of Friedrich’s creations, but in his creations, nature is more than just physical landscapes or intricate realistic portraits. He was more invested in exploring the depth of nature to know the intricacies of the human mind. That’s the reason nature in his portrayals is always symbolic not realistic. He often used to remove details from his nature portrayals to make them look minimalist.

It was tragic that such a visionary and a passionate creator was unrecognized and eventually died of poverty. Unlike other famous Romanticism artists of his time, he struggled to sell his paintings due to their serious and solemn appeal. His true talent was rediscovered almost a century after his death when expressionists and symbolists found inspiration in his atmospheric landscapes and metaphorical drawings. The qualities that made Caspar David Friedrich unfashionable in his time have made him one of the finest Romantic artists of all time.

In our next series, we will unveil more such unheard-of stories and facts for our readers. So, stay tuned.