Caspar David Friedrich Quotes

A collection of quotes by Caspar David Friedrich.

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a prominent German Romantic landscape painter. Born in Greifswald, Friedrich's works resonated with the spirit of his time, focusing on the awe-inspiring power of nature and the human experience within it. His painting style often featured sublime, melancholic landscapes, frequently incorporating elements of ruins, symbolic imagery, and contemplative figures. Friedrich's art aimed to convey spiritual and emotional content, exploring themes of solitude, longing, and the transient nature of life. He became a leading figure in German Romanticism, leaving a lasting impact on the art world and inspiring generations of artists to come.

Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first w

Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first with the eye of the spirit. Then bring to light what you have seen in the darkness, that its effect may work back, from without to within.

Caspar David Friedrich

Work

What the newer landscape artists see in a circle of a hundre

What the newer landscape artists see in a circle of a hundred degrees in Nature they press together unmercifully into an angle of vision of only forty-five degrees. And furthermore, what is in Nature separated by large spaces, is compressed into a cramped space and overfills and oversatiates the eye, creating an unfavorable and disquieting effect on the viewer.

Caspar David Friedrich

Art

I am not so weak as to submit to the demands of the age when

I am not so weak as to submit to the demands of the age when they go against my convictions. I spin a cocoon around myself; let others do the same. I shall leave it to time to show what will come of it: a brilliant butterfly or maggot.

Caspar David Friedrich

Death