‘The Soul Of Nature’: Springtime In New York With Caspar David Friedrich At The Met
Photo by Jillian Cheney
(REVIEW) The end of winter in New York sometimes feels rife with melancholy. A few spring days taunt with the warmth and new life to come, but the city is still plagued by the dregs of winter. The only appropriate response, if that melancholy has become personal, is to channel that solemn energy into something productive — like going to see the exhibition “The Soul of Nature” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The exhibition is the first major retrospective of the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich in the U.S., spanning his career from beginning to end and offering New Yorkers and visitors alike the chance to see works — like the famous “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” — not often shown outside of Germany.
Largely organized chronologically, the exhibition is split into nine subsections that detail points in his creative journey. In early works, Friedrich, not yet established as an oil painter, created in several mediums: largely watercolor, inks and woodcuts. Regardless of medium, his works all contained the artistic and narrative elements that mark his career.
At the start of his career in Dresden, after years of training, Friedrich was surrounded by the beginnings of the Romantic movement and well-established landscape painters — which he shortly became one of. He was perfectly primed to add his voice and his work to the development of the culture of the period, marked by a focus on nature and an individual connection to it. Prioritizing passion, beauty and creativity, Romanticists form the artistic movement which most strongly advocates for the relationship between art and emotion; both should be inspired by the other in a deep and harmonious cycle.
Where beauty is concerned, Friedrich certainly hits the mark. His works even of simple landscapes are meticulously detailed and expressive; his use of light and color, while perhaps not entirely singular, are revelatory. Some works are mere inches, and pressing close is like the experience of peering into a viewfinder — it becomes easy to believe that a whole world exists within the canvas.
As encouraged by the Romantic nature of the work, the beauty contained within inspires a full range of feeling. Moonlit scenes feel secretive, serene and silent. Landscapes depicting the early morning sun feel hopeful, joyous, brimming with potential. Friedrich captures what it’s like to be awestruck by nature and what it’s like to be at home within it.
Perhaps the most important section for categorizing the importance of Friedrich’s work is “Nature and Faith,” devoted in large part to crosses, monasteries and cathedrals either abandoned or ravaged by the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars. Friedrich, who was raised as a Lutheran, developed something of a fixation on these religious scenes and icons early in his career.
He depicts crumbling yet peaceful buildings becoming one with nature, welcoming growing ivy and offering windows into the world beyond. Painted crosses in lonely environments, in dark forests and towering mountains, take on an otherworldly glow.
Photo by Jillian Cheney
Some critics of the time found this work sacrilegious — and it’s no doubt a grand departure from the powerful and confident religious art of earlier years. Friedrich easily makes known that religion, like all things, is transient and impermanent; faith and spirituality, however, persist into eternity, in part because of a deep connection to creation.
This explicitly religious exploration led to the ultimate development of what would become one of Friedrich’s most notable themes: loneliness. “Monk by the Sea,” exhibited for the first time in 1810, is perhaps the best example. A figure of piety, wisdom and spirituality, Friedrich’s monk stands completely alone on a greying shore and looks out into the endless great beyond. The sea blends into the horizon, clouds cover the sky, and even the darkness within the painting seems to be closing in on the singular figure.
Writing on the painting himself, Friedrich says the monk contemplates “the unknowable hereafter … the darkness of the future! Which is only ever sacred intuition, to be seen and recognized only in belief.” This reflection on life after death and the uncertainty of life itself are the heart of Friedrich’s work, driving the powerful emotional connection his art exudes.
The peak of the exhibition — before a declining public perception and unimpressive career-end — is his most famous work, which depicts a lone young man on an outcropping of rock looking out over a roiling sea. Awash in dramatic lighting and powerful blues and greens, the young man faces the sea head on.
He remains intentionally faceless, leaving the viewer to project their own emotional response onto the figure.
Is he brave?
Contemplative?
Uncaring?
Whatever he is, whatever he feels, he is alone.
This painting, one of the most powerful in art history for the emotional response it garners, is unquestionably beautiful — but it loses some of its power because of the way it’s displayed, among other paintings in a relatively small exhibition space. It’s hard to feel truly alone, naturally, in a crowded room of patrons all shuffling through the rooms, murmuring their thoughts to each other, brushing shoulders.
It’s something of a disappointment, to be sure, particularly for those looking to truly channel their hopeless longing. But it in no way diminishes the magnificent impact of Friedrich’s work — and maybe it’s for the best, that reminder that loneliness and uncertainty isn’t ever really as pervasive as it seems.
The exhibit, “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature,” runs through May 11.
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more. Find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.