Response Essay: Caspar David Friedrich and "The Stages of Life"

Upon watching the presentation on Caspar David Friedrich, I was absolutely fascinated with the incredible paintings that he created. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in a lot of the paintings to really take in a lot of the information. I ended up spending the rest of that afternoon looking at a lot of his paintings, and with each one, I fell more and more in love with his work. I decided to read more about his life and what other things he contributed to Germany and the Germanic people aside from such beautiful paintings.

He is known as one of the largest figures in Romantic painting, so I decided to start with that. German Romanticism was the dominant style in Europe around the late 1700s and early 1800s, right around the time that Friedrich lived. Born out of the German Enlightenment of the late 1700s, Romanticism also focused on the individual and their place in the larger world. There was a greater interest in folklore and legends of the middle ages. This was evident in Friedrich’s paintings as he painted vast landscapes and waterscapes.

I was actually surprised to see that Romanticism was a much larger movement. I had taken a few art history classes prior, and for some reason, Romanticism was always passed over as if it wasn’t as important. We did see some paintings, such as Friedrich’s own Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, his most famous work. However, a lot of this period is glossed over. It seems my professors favored the Baroque or Expressionist periods. Which is dumb, because I have found a lot of interest and beauty in these Romantic photos. I was also very surprised to see that the Romantic movement expanded beyond paintings, and that there were some very significant names that were attached to the movement. I had already been aware of and had loved some artists that were mentioned to have been involved in the movement, such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Heinrick Heine, and even Goethe.

If I had to pick a particular favorite piece that spoke to me, it might have to be Friedrich’s last painting, The Stages of Life, which is posted below. The staging of the painting alone is enough to stare at for a few minutes, but the lighting and color choices are so intricately made. The beauty of the yellow and blue clouds is very calming, suggesting the thought of an afterlife heaven. The ship and boats suggest the death, coming for the old man who is in the foreground.

Each character represents another stage of life as well. The two children represent the youth, obviously in their age, but also in the fact that they focus mostly on the tiny flag in their hands. They’re more focused on the immediate life around them rather than some of the much larger things happening in the world around them. The adults, presumably the parents, represent the young adults to the middle age. They represent two things felt by many of people their age. The woman looks on to her children, representing the nostalgia for childhood, a time when things were fresh, new, and simple. The man looks towards the old man, his father. This possibly suggests him looking out into the world around him, but I see him looking at his father, the man he is going to become. Both of these adults are focused on the past and the present, like I feel a lot of people my age and only a few years my senior feel. The old I also think it’s interesting how none of these characters are looking at the boats, suggesting that we never truly accept death in most of life’s stages. The children simply are not aware of the boat, and the younger adults are clearly aware of it, but are choosing to not look at it. This suggests that while they’re aware of their deaths, they choose to ignore it, either because it scares them or because they feel it does not concern them.

The  one man that can see the whole picture is the old man in the foreground. He is taking it all in. The ships, the clouds, his younger family, and the world around him. He is walking toward the ships, accepting his death. He’s lived his life, and he’s ready for what’s after, whatever it may be.

It’s beautiful, and this is just one of his many artworks. He produced so many works, some which contain just as many ideas and interpretations as just this one. I fully intend to look more in depth at his other works. They’re all so very personal and still so vast and larger than life. I think Caspar David Friedrich is one of, if not my new favorite artist.

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