"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog"
Romanticism is the ideological and artistic movement in European and American culture of the XVIII century - the first half of the XIX century. Romanticism emphasis on emotion and individualism and claims the cult of nature. Tourism, mountaineering and picnics became popular at that time because of the desire to restore the unity of human and nature.
Caspar David Friedrich is one of the most famous representatives of German Romanticism in painting. This artist traveled a lot before settled in Dresden, where he began his friendship with the Romantic writers, poets, and philosophers, such as Johann Goethe, Vasiliy Zhukovsky, Johann Tieck and others. His love for traveling and communication with the Romantics had an influence on his future art. In his early art works are already seen features of Romanticism. For Friedrich nature was a bearer of personal feelings and often had a symbolic meaning. The artist said that his landscapes " were not accurate images of air, water, rocks and trees .but a reflection of the soul and the emotional content of these objects."
His painting "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" - is known as a symbol of Romanticism in Europe. It fully shows the essence of Romanticism. The painting attracted the attention to its plot. The painting depicts a stranger - the artist himself, standing on a rock. He is turned back to the viewer. The composition of the painting reflects the artist's desire to create a connection between nearness and farness, the finish and the infinity. This picture is more than just a landscape. The nature is the outward expression of the inner state. Mountains and clouds are part of the soul of the hero, as well as he is a part of them. Also we get an impression that the man dominates the landscape, and at the same time he is nothing against the huge rocks and the sea. Cold colors also emphasize the philosophical mood of the painting. The hero is depicted at the moment of his reflections on life. A fog is a metaphor of the unknown future.
