The most thorough Caspar David Friedrich retrospective in many years, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the artist's birth

Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) is renowned as the Romantic painter par excellence, his works icons of an age of major social upheaval. His landscape paintings and drawings broke with traditional patterns of representation, and paved new ways of both experiencing and reflecting on the ambivalent relationship between humankind and nature.

Accompanying the most comprehensive Friedrich retrospective in many years, this catalogue re-examines the artist’s groundbreaking work in light of the urgent challenges in a time of climate crisis and postcolonial reflection. It centres on more than sixty paintings, among them many major iconic works, and about 100 drawings. Selected works by Friedrich’s colleagues, notably August Heinrich, Georg Friedrich Kersting, Ernst Ferdinand Oehme and Johann Alexander Thiele are also featured. The second part of the book focuses on the contemporary reception of his work. In contributions ranging from video and photography to installations, some twenty artists working across a variety of genres and media explore the Romantic era, its attitude to nature and the art of Caspar David Friedrich. The participants include Alex Grein, Swaantje Güntzel, Jochen Hein, Johanna Karlsson, Hiroyuki Masuyama, Loudmila Milanova, Mariele Neudecker, Ulrike Rosenbach, Susan Schuppli, Santeri Tuori and Kehinde Wiley.

About the Authors:

Markus Bertsch is Head of the 19th-Century Collection at Hamburger Kunsthalle. Johannes Grave is Professor of Modern Art History with a focus on European Romanticism at the University of Jena. He was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis in 2020 for his research on art in the early 1800s, early Renaissance painting and picture theory.

250 years after the painter’s birth, this luxurious exhibition catalog offers glimpses into the mystery of Friedrich’s largely posthumous popularity as well as the latest research into his training and techniques.

Largely ignored during his lifetime, Caspar David Friedrich was a meticulous painter of emotionally evocative landscapes, often featuring solitary figures or groups of people against dramatic scenery. His work has inspired many artists to the present day, and this volume explores the role that Berlin’s Nationalgalerie played in bringing Friedrich into the forefront of modern art history. It also shines a light on Friedrich's remarkable use of pairs in paintings — including his most famous pairing, Monk by the Sea and Abbey in the Oakwood — which he employed to express a range of different perspectives and the concept of change. Finally it examines the latest research into Friedrich’s technique: his early training in Copenhagen; his sketches, preparatory drawings and underdrawings; and his unconventional selection and use of pigments.

Throughout this monograph readers will find stunning reproductions of sixty paintings, including several iconic works, and fifty drawings—representing collections from around the world. Coupled with the latest research, they combine to offer a completely up-to-date appreciation of Friedrich’s extraordinary talent and his unquestionable status as a pioneer of modern art.

With contributions by Birgit Verwiebe, Johannes Grave, Hilmar Frank, Werner Busch, Anna Marie Pfäfflin, Gerd-Helge Vogel, Kristina Mösl, Ralph Gleis, Sintje Guericke.

About the Authors:

Birgit Verwiebe is curator at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin for painting of the first half of the 19th century, and an expert on Caspar David Friedrich.

Raplph Gleis is director of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin with numerous publications on the art of the 19th century.

Sublime stillness. The king of the contemplative landscape

From night skies to morning mists to the much-cited Wanderer above a Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich mastered the emotional and metaphysical experience of nature. This introductory book presents his most important and celebrated works to explore an oeuvre of sublime and haunting impact and a trailblazer of Romantic aesthetics.

The beauty of nature and man’s loneliness are dominant themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). The artist often places a small human figure in a broad landscape, as in his famous paintings Monk by the Sea and The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. For a long time the importance and influence of this great Romantic painter were underestimated. When he died, Friedrich had already been forgotten by his contemporaries and was only rediscovered in the early 20th century. Today he is considered to be the most important German painter of his generation and a precursor of Expressionism.

Once Friedrich gave the following advice to an artist-colleague of his who was constricted by academic rules: “Shut your physical eye so that you first see your painting with your spiritual eye. Then bring to light what you saw in the dark so that it has an effect on others, shining inwards from outside.” In other words, concentration and not imitation, essence and not frivolous brushwork.

The author:

Norbert Wolf graduated in art history, linguistics, and medieval studies at the Universities of Regensburg and Munich, and earned his PhD in 1983. He held visiting professorships in Marburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg-Erlangen, and Innsbruck. His extensive writings on art history include many TASCHEN titles, such as Diego Velázquez, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Caspar David Friedrich, Expressionism, Romanesque, Landscape Painting, and Symbolism.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Sublime stillness

Capturing nature's moody splendor

The solitude of man and the bleak beauty of nature are prominent themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), the great romantic painter whose importance and influence have often been underestimated. Now widely considered to be the most important German artist of his generation, Friedrich died in obscurity and wasn’t fully appreciated until the early 20th century. An important precursor to the Expressionists, Friedrich once wrote that an artist must "close your bodily eye so that you may see your picture first with the spiritual eye. Then bring to the light of day that which you have seen in the darkness so that it may react upon others from the outside inwards."

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series features:

• a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
• a concise biography
• approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Norbert Wolf graduated in art history, linguistics and medieval studies at the universities of Regensburg and Munich, and earned his PhD in 1983. He held visiting professorships in Marburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg-Erlangen, and Innsbruck. His extensive writings on art history include many TASCHEN titles, such as Diego Velázquez, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Caspar David Friedrich, Expressionism, Romanesque, Landscape Painting and Symbolism.

Sublime stillness

Capturing nature's moody splendor

The solitude of man and the bleak beauty of nature are prominent themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), the great romantic painter whose importance and influence have often been underestimated. Now widely considered to be the most important German artist of his generation, Friedrich died in obscurity and wasn’t fully appreciated until the early 20th century. An important precursor to the Expressionists, Friedrich once wrote that an artist must “close your bodily eye so that you may see your picture first with the spiritual eye. Then bring to the light of day that which you have seen in the darkness so that it may react upon others from the outside inwards.”

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

* a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
* approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
* a concise biography

This refreshing new book, a lavishly produced and illustrated volume on the controversial 19th-century Romantic artist, addresses Caspar David Friedrich’s modern critics while deepening our appreciation for his singular genius.

"A painting must stand as a painting, made by human hand", wrote Caspar David Friedrich, "not seek to disguise itself as nature." One of his generation’s most popular painters, Friedrich imagined landscapes of powerful beauty and spirituality from within the confines of his studios. This breathtaking monograph, filled with glorious reproductions and details of his paintings, argues for Friedrich’s reputation as a sublime artist and interpreter of nature. In his thoughtful and wellresearched commentary, author Johannes Grave explores Friedrich’s unique approach to landscape painting as well as his revolutionary thoughts about how these paintings should be received by their viewers. Looking closely at pieces such as "Monk by the Sea", "The Abbey in the Oakwood", and the "Tetschen Altar", Graves shows how Friedrich developed an innovative approach to landscape painting, one that communicated a new sense of space and time, and which draws the viewer into a unique aesthetic experience.

Readable, insightful, and copiously illustrated in a deluxe volume, this compelling new perspective sheds crucial light on Friedrich’s celebrated body of work.