The Monk by the Sea
| The Monk by the Sea | |
|---|---|
| German: Der Mönch am Meer | |
 | |
| Artist | Caspar David Friedrich |
| Year | 1808-1810 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Location | Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin |
The Monk by the Sea (German: Der Mönch am Meer) is an oil painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It was painted between 1808 and 1810 in Dresden and was first shown together with the painting The Abbey in the Oakwood (Abtei im Eichwald) in the Berlin Academy exhibition of 1810. On Friedrich's request The Monk by the Sea was hung above The Abbey in the Oakwood[1].
After the exhibition both pictures were bought by king Frederick Wilhelm III for his collection[2]. Today the paintings hang side by side in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Development
The picture appeared at a time when Friedrich had his first public success and critical acknowledgment with the controversial Tetschener Altar. The Monk by the Sea furthered his success and drew much attention.
Although Friedrich's paintings are landscapes, he designed and painted them in his studio, using freely drawn plein air sketches, from which he chose the most evocative elements to integrate into an expressive composition. The composition of The Monk by the Sea shows evidence of this reductive process, as Friedrich removed elements from the canvas after they were painted.
Friedrich had probably begun the painting in Dresden, 1808. In a letter of February 1809, he described the image for the first time[citation needed]. The stages in its conception were also documented by guests to his studio. In June 1809, a Frau von Kügelgen, an acquaintance of Friedrich, described the quiet sky of The Monk by the Sea. Recent scientific investigations have revealed that he had initially painted two small sailing ships on the horizon, which he later removed[2]. Friedrich continued to make small changes to the details of the painting right up to its exhibition, but the basic composition always stayed the same[3].
Description
A single figure, dressed in a long garment and with his chin on one hand, stands on a low dune sprinkled with grass. The figure, usually identified as a monk, has turned almost completely away from the viewer and surveys a rough sea and a gray, blank sky that takes up about three quarters of the picture. It is unclear whether he is standing on a high rock or only on a gentle slope to the sea. The dune forms an inexpressive triangle in the composition, at the farthest point of which is the figure. Near the monk are 14 gulls, one sitting close to him on his right, and the others flying off away from him, also to the right.
Critical opinion
The monk by the sea looked disturbing to many viewers. Heinrich von Kleist concluded his essay Empfindungen zu Friedrichs Seelandschaft von Apokalypse und Uferlosigkeit[4] with the words: "...so when one looks at it, it is as though one's eyelids were cut away"[5]. A satiric response, aimed less at the picture itself than at its beholders, was published a short time later by Clemens Brentano under the title Verschiedene Empfindungen vor einer Seelandschaft von Friedrich, worauf ein Kapuziner[6]. In a piece purporting to represent many different points of view, Brentano makes puns such as "Ossian" and "ocean" or "aus dem Grauen des einen Betrachters, wird ein Grau des anderen" ("from the horror of one viewer, comes a grayness of the other")[7].
Notes
- ^ Held: Romantik , 2003, p. 81.
- ^ a b Friedrich, Norbert Wolf, Taschen, p. 31.
- ^ Die Briefe/ Caspar David Friedrich, p. 66
- ^ "Sentiments on Friedrich's seascape of apocalypse and boundlessness"
- ^ "...so ist es, wenn man es betrachtet, als ob einem die Augenlider weggeschnitten wären" (Held: Romantik, p. 82).
- ^ "Various sentiments before a seascape by Friedrich, with a Capuchin".
- ^ Held: Romantik p. 84.
References
- Friedrich, Caspar David: Die Briefe (2005, ed. and comm. by Herrmann Zschoche). Hamburg: ConferencePoint Verlag. ISBN 3-936406-12-X.
- Börsch-Supan, Helmut & Jähnig, Karl Wilhelm, 1973: Caspar David Friedrich. Gemälde, Druckgraphik und bildmäßige Zeichnungen. Munich: Prestel Verlag. ISBN 3-7913-0053-9
- Held, Heinz-Georg Held, 2003: Romantik. Cologne: Dumont. ISBN 3832176012
- Schulze Altcappenberg, H. Th., 2006: An der Wiege der Romantik, Caspar David Friedrichs Jahreszeiten von 1803. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. ISBN 3-88609-561-4
- Wolf, Norbert, 2003: Friedrich. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 3822819581
- This article is a translation of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia as of 21 November 2008