Feeling Art

"The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art."
- Caspar Friedrich

"A painting which does not take its inspiration from the heart is nothing more than futile juggling."
- Caspar Friedrich

So upon stumbling on the piece of Caspar Friedrich, I have decided to try and learn a little bit more about him, his work, and his style.

Through looking at most of his works, you can make an obvious note that Friedrich was a romanticism painter. However, he did romanticism with a bit of a twist.

In most romanticism paintings, the purpose of it is to give the observer the effect of them being where the scene is set. The purpose is for the observer to escape their busy , dusty, miserable life and travel to something peaceful, quiet, and beautiful. Friedrich does continue that style to some extent, but decides to add more emotion than just a simple scenery.

See, in many of Friedrich's paintings, it doesn't show the extremely bright and smiling scene. It can bring forth other feelings as well. Some of his paintings like The Polar Sea show how nature isn't always bright and smiling. It can also be edgy and disappointing, seeing as the wrecked piece of a ship is shown. The ice also delivers a sort of sharpness to the piece rather than smooth, easy and rounded.

Friedrich was born on September 5, 1774, in Germany. He studied at the Copenhagen Academy. In 1798 he moved to Dresden. He became a member of the romantic movement starting with his early drawings of scenery sketched out in pencil. As soon as he had gotten a feeling for the landscape, he began to add emotion to his paintings.

If you would like to learn more about Caspar Friedrich, here is a link that might be able to help:
http://cgfa.floridaimaging.com/friedric/friedrich_bio.htm