Caspar David Friedrich

A calm moment to reflect in these chaotic times

Some people have asked about my profile picture.

This is a panorama of Greifswald on the German Baltic coast, painted by its most famous son, the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). I was fortunate to spent three happy years teaching at the university there.

I had seen and been entranced by an exhibition of Friedrich’s work in London some many years ago and was captivated by the light, which at that stage in my early life, I took to be a romantic representation. But when I arrived at Greifswald I found to my delight that his Baltic paintings are realistic. The South Baltic offers a foretaste of the White Nights of the further North.

This skyline remains intact and could be seen from the balcony of my flat - horses and pastures gone - but only small scale buildings are in between. The pleasure was to sit and watch the setting sun move fractional along between the churches as the seasons progressed.

The churches themselves are excellent examples of North German redbrick Gothic.

Remarkably Greifswald was part of Sweden at the time of Friedrich’s birth, only reverting to part of Germany after the Napoleonic wars and when he moved to Dresden, it was in the Dukedom of Saxony, which Napoleon upgraded to a Kingdom, and which only lost it title after WWI. Germany is full of such surprising historical quirks.

Friedrich spent most of this active life in Dresden, one of my favourite cities, where the Albertinum has an excellent collection of his paintings.

(Above the waterfront of the Elbe at Dresden, though I never understand the habit of calling Dresden ‘the Florence of the Elbe’ - it is beautiful enough in its own right)

A remarkable aspect of Friedrich’s style is that he lets the viewers see what the figures in his paintings see. In this case, the remarkable chalk cliffs on Ruegen Island, where I have taken my wife and our daughter in successive years. Though erosion has smooth the jagged edges ! The best view is from the ferry to Sweden.

I thought I would distract my readers with this little excursion. Enjoy.

March 2025

Michael is a freelance writer and speaker on international affairs and occasionally gives lecture tours on German history, culture and politics.

Independent, regional and progressive media, who may wish to use this or other of Michael articles, please contact him at: mhindley1947@gmail.com

Michael also post on: @hindleylancs.bsky.social