Caspar David Friedrich

Biography

Caspar David Friedrich was born on September 5, 1774, in the city of Greifswald, then part of the Kingdom of Prussia. He was a distinguished German painter and graphic artist, primarily known for his landscape works, and a leading European artist of the nineteenth century. Alongside his friend Philipp Otto Runge, Friedrich was a foremost representative of early German Romanticism and led a group known as the Dresden Romantics. During his career, he was a member of both the Prussian and Dresden Academies of Fine Arts. Friedrich's artistic output encompassed landscape, portrait, and genre painting. Among his notable works are "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog," "Abbey in the Oakwood," "Monk by the Sea," "Two Men Contemplating the Moon," "The Polar Sea," "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen Island," and "Tree of Crows." In addition to painting, Friedrich worked as a watercolorist, printmaker, etcher, sculptor, draughtsman, and architectural draftsman. He passed away on May 7, 1840, in Dresden. His work was connected with the Kingdom of Prussia and Sweden.