On the 250th anniversary of his birthday, Jenny Farrell writes about Caspar David Friedrich, September 5, 1774 – May 7, 1840
The French Revolution sparked great hopes for the rise of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of feudal structures, and the establishment of a capitalist society. Napoleon gained power through military successes against reactionary forces and the restoration of stability after the fall of the Directory.
His leading role in state reforms – including the codification of civil rights in the Code Civil, educational and administrative reforms, and the creation of a stable economy – consolidated his absolute power, supported by the military and the bourgeoisie. He centralised power in his person, established an authoritarian regime, and crowned himself emperor in 1804.
Napoleon’s wars of conquest in Europe served both territorial expansion and the spread of capitalist production relations. The occupied territories were often restructured and equipped with bourgeois reforms. Through the Continental Blockade and other economic measures, Napoleon sought to secure France’s economic dominance in Europe and weaken competition, especially from Britain.
The events of 1806, including the defeats of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and the occupation of German territories by French troops, led to a strong anti-Napoleonic freedom movement in Germany.
Caspar David Friedrich was deeply affected by all these events, and national themes shaped his art. He depicted specifically German landscapes, such as Rügen, the Harz, the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, and the Giant Mountains, interspersed with national symbols like oaks, megalithic tombs, and Gothic ruins. His figures also wore traditional German costumes.
It was these national traits, which made sense in the context of the Napoleonic Wars, that were later instrumentalised in a different historical context for the purposes of German fascism. Friedrich’s allegories of death and resurrection often express a patriotic character. Moreover, his work is imbued with poignant melancholy and solitude, reflecting the mood of the time.
For over forty years, Friedrich, born in Greifswald as the son of a soap boiler, lived and worked in Dresden, the center of early Romanticism, with prominent painters, poets, and composers, including E.T.A. Hoffmann, Kleist, and Weber, who express violence and horror in their art.
Art that’s rooted in the upheavals of his time
Friedrich insisted that his works would and must always bear the imprint of his time. Growing resistance in the occupied territories culminated in the Wars of Liberation (War of the Sixth Coalition) with Napoleon’s defeats in Russia (1812) and at the Battle of Leipzig (1813). The united forces of other European powers, including Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, finally defeated him and restored the old order.
The restoration after the War of the Sixth Coalition, particularly after the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), had profound effects on the population and freedom of expression in Germany. The restoration forces suppressed any form of liberal or national uprising. Draconian censorship ensured that only government-compliant content was published. Authors who expressed criticism could face publication bans or imprisonment. The authorities employed spies to monitor and persecute political dissidents, and unwanted political associations and assemblies were banned. This repression led to radicalisation and strengthened the opposition movements that culminated in the revolutions of 1848. The suppression of liberal and national ideas fostered national consciousness and the desire for a united and liberal Germany.
Friedrich’s work was deeply rooted in the upheavals of his time and must be understood as a reaction to the Restoration after 1815. His support for national freedom movements now turned into an exposure of the reaction in Europe.
Winter gained central symbolic power. In art, winter is often a time of death. One of the most famous manifestations is Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” (1827), where winter and ice symbolise political repression. Furthermore, the ninth and final, innermost and most terrible circle of Dante’s Hell is an ice lake, a frozen wasteland. Accompanying the encoded artworks that sought to expose the reaction, the escapism of Biedermeier emerged – the retreat, the flight into the private, domestic, and apolitical. The pressure on artists of the time to conform to this was great. But not everyone bowed to it.
The Sea of Ice
Friedrich’s painting The Sea of Ice (1823-24, oil, Hamburger Kunsthalle) was created during this time of Restoration. The initial impression is dominated by a highly dramatic scene: huge, sharp-edged ice floes rising at pyramidal angles dominate the centre of the image, conveying a sense of mortal threat. The horizontal lines of the ice layers and the vertical breaks and peaks of the ice blocks create a dynamic element that heightens the drama of the scene.
The peak of the central ice formation draws the viewer’s eyes to this highest point, increasing the dramatic effect. The ice blocks seem to tilt and break in different directions. The repeating, broken shapes of the ice blocks create a visual rhythm that underscores the chaotic and threatening nature of the scene. Irregular and sharp-edged structures convey a sense of chaos and destruction.
The horizontal planes of the ice masses convey stability and suggest an endless expanse of the icy landscape. The low-set horizon line also emphasises the vastness of the sea of ice and enhances the feeling of isolation and infinity. The sky, dominated by ice blocks, reinforces the sense of oppressive power. The contrast between the calm, horizontal planes and the dynamic, vertical forms creates a visual tension that moves the viewer’s eye back and forth, drawing them into the scene and creating an intense emotional experience.
The absence of people reinforces the feeling of loneliness and abandonment. An all but sunk ship, crushed by the masses of ice, symbolises failure and destruction. Weathered wood and the ravages of cold intensify the sense of abandonment and hopelessness. In art, the ship is frequently a metaphor for the world and human life. With its icy demise, all movement freezes, life ends futureless. Bearing Dante in mind, the world is heading for a hell of ice.
The floes in the foreground form a piled-up structure, repeated by similar ice formations in the middle and distant background. These steeply left-leaning slabs resemble deadly high mountain cliffs and suggest further sailing ships frozen into the ice, past victims of the eternal cold. The counter-movement of smaller right-leaning ice peaks enhances the impression of the relentless crushing of all life, supported by the huge, brown horizontal slabs in the foreground. Mentally extending the lines reaching left and right, they converge at the stern of the capsized ship – a dark point amidst the many white shades of the frozen sea.
Viewers observe the scene from the shore – the brown colour of the foreground floes and remnants of earth indicate this. However, the earth shows no signs of life, and thin trunks of dead trees protrude from the ice. There is no escape from this relentless, all-encompassing ice. Artist and observer each face the icy desert alone.
Modern viewers, who understand the artist’s time and set parallels to their own, well understand his despair and are themselves emotionally moved.
Longing for a united Germany
With this work of art, Friedrich aligns himself with a tradition of seascapes. The marine and landscape paintings of Turner, Friedrich’s English contemporary, also contain clear, albeit different, social commentaries. While Turner’s gaze is forward-looking, Friedrich’s seems at first glance to look backward. But through his reflection on a specifically German tradition, he expresses a longing for a united Germany, which could only achieve progress by overcoming aristocratic small-state structures.
This includes a return to the revolutionary efforts of those reformers of the 16th century who understood the Reformation not only as a religious but also as a political revolution, aiming for the abolition of princely power. Thus, in 1823, Friedrich painted Hutten’s Grave, in which he commemorates not only Ulrich von Hutten but also other patriots whose names can be found on the sarcophagus.
After Friedrich’s rapid rise during the Wars of Liberation, where he became known for his works aimed at a liberated German republic, he quickly fell out of favour with the political and cultural scene after 1815. When he turned against the princes, he was ostracised along with others with similar views. These rulers fought vehemently against any efforts towards national unity that could have endangered their power in the years following 1815. Instead of giving in to the pressure and turning to anti-democratic or unpolitical Biedermeier themes, Friedrich resisted the Metternich Restoration by continuing to portray shattered hopes.
Friedrich’s critical stance made him so unpopular with the authorities that he did not receive the professorship for landscape painting at the Dresden Academy in 1824 during the new appointment because his influence on the youth was feared. Not only in the academic world but also in public consciousness, the artist was increasingly suppressed and could only survive financially thanks to the support of Russian art connoisseurs. His works, including six significant paintings in the Hermitage, found recognition there.
Friedrich experienced a brief moment of hope during the Dresden uprisings in 1830. But after their defeat, his paintings became even darker. When Friedrich died in Dresden in 1840, he was poor and largely forgotten until the early 20th century.
Friedrich’s art not only reflects his progressive stance during a time when the struggle for a unified German nation was radical, challenging the entrenched feudal society, but also serves as a potent reminder of how art can be manipulated to serve different political agendas. While his vision of nationalism was forward-thinking, aimed at liberation and unity, it was tragically co-opted by the Nazis to fuel their fascist ideology.
Today, as extreme right-wing nationalism and white supremacism are once again on the rise, it is crucial to approach Friedrich’s work with a nuanced understanding of its historical context. Only by recognising the specific circumstances that inspired his art can we prevent its misappropriation and fully appreciate his commentary on the on the hell-like ice age that was the European Restoration of the 19th century. Far from being a reactionary nationalist, he was aligned with the forces who laid the ground for the unsuccessful bourgeois revolution in 1848/49.
