Friday, October 24, 2014

“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”


Caspar David Friedrich’s “The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” embodies lots of romantic period qualities. When I take a glance at this artwork, the first thing I think is that this man in the painting is taking in this beautiful view and just feeling the power of life. All around him is beauty, wonder, and mystery. I can almost completely insert myself into this painting and feel all of my senses working as I try to make sense of all of the magnificence around me.
One Romanticism ideal that seems to be portrayed in this photo is alienation; the thought of an “artist apart from society”. Now, this may not be a self-portrait of Caspar David Friedrich, but this man is definitely alienated from society at the moment of this painting. Maybe Friedrich wanted to portray his feelings about society and by having this man be the only person in the painting, it symbolized his want or even role in society.
Similar to “The Dreamer”, also by Friedrich, this painting embodies lots of emotions, another ideal of Romanticism. I can put myself in the main character’s shoes and look out into the mystifying landscape before me. How can one not think when they are put into a situation like this? Even now, in modern day, if one was to come across a landscape like this, after taking their pictures with their smart phones, I would hope that there would be at least a couple of seconds of silence to just take it all in. And in that moment of silence, there has got to be thoughts bouncing around, stirring emotions throughout the body, engaging all senses. Being so high up, as well, must create a sense of power (not necessarily over anyone), but just power in oneself as well as satisfaction with life. These emotions can lead to another Romanticism theory: the sense of self-realization in the world.
During this period, the yearning for the “unknown and unknowable” was prominent. What is out there? This man must be thinking. Maybe not only is he (or me, in that case) wondering what is underneath all of that fog, but it also brings me to a larger question overall. What is out there…in the entire world? Again, the mystery of this painting can create feelings within a viewer.
The use of a foreign land is something that was classified in the Romantic period. Relative to being “unknown and unknowable”, this foreign land creates a sense of there being new ideals. What is out there that I have yet to discover that is being hidden by all of this fog? Do I leave and wait for the fog to clear or appreciate the beauty of mystery while it is still here?

Even though I am not looking at the actual painting, I am still able to use my senses to appreciate the glory and wonder of this scene. In my mind, Caspar David Friedrich does a great job in creating a piece that can pull the viewer into the painting so that they can feel what the main character in this piece is feeling. 

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