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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (also known as Wanderer Above the Mist; ) is an oil painting of 1818 by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.
Description
The work depicts a man, possibly Friedrich himself, standing on top of a high mountain, with his back to the viewer—a common motif in Friedrich's work—before a great mass of fog. Peaks of other mountains can be seen above the surface of the fog, while a range of huge mountains is seen in the background.
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Encyclopedia
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (also known as Wanderer Above the Mist; ) is an oil painting of 1818 by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich.
Description
The work depicts a man, possibly Friedrich himself, standing on top of a high mountain, with his back to the viewer—a common motif in Friedrich's work—before a great mass of fog. Peaks of other mountains can be seen above the surface of the fog, while a range of huge mountains is seen in the background. The large expanse of sky above the heights of the mountains in the background covers much of the painting.
The painting is composed of various elements from the mountains of the Elbsandsteingebirge in Saxony and Bohemia, sketched in the field but in accordance with his usual practice, rearranged by Friedrich himself in the studio for the painting. In the background to the right is the Zirkelstein. The mountain in the background to the left could be either the Rosenberg or the Kaltenberg. The group of rocks in front of it represent the Gamrig near Rathen. The rocks on which the traveller stands are a group on the Kaiserkrone.
Note the contrast between the dark shading and closed spacing of the mountain in the foreground and the bright and open expanse of what lies in front of the man.
Commentary
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is true to the Romantic style, offering a powerful statement about mankind and personal enlightenment. Although the man is on top of a lofty mountain, he is wearing a formal outfit that would have been typical of a philosopher during Friedrich's life.
Friedrich's interest in nature is evident throughout his work. Examples include his Chalk Cliffs on Rügen, painted in 1818, which portrays a man standing, and a woman seated, looking out, while another man on his hands and knees looks over the ledge of a vast and high-reaching slope leading down to an endless ocean.
Another example of this can be found in Friedrich's The Sea of Ice, which depicts, in the foreground, a monumental pile of enormous ice-shards, reminiscent of ruins, with many similar piles in the middle and background, littering a frozen landscape.
Some meaning of this work is lost in the translation of its title. in German, the title is "Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer." Two noticeable subtleties shine in the German title. First, Wanderer exists as both the word for "wanderer" and for the word "hiker." The character can thus be seen as lost and trying to find purpose, or as a resolute journeyman. The second subtlety is that the word "Nebelmeer" in German translates directly into "Fogsea." The audience though has the discrimination to interpret it as "the sea which is composed of fog," or "the Fog Sea." The first of these leads to a more abstract and philosophical view that compliments the "wanderer" translation of the first word. The second is more concrete and challenging, complimenting the view of the determined hiker.
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