Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog was painted by Romantic Landscape painter Caspar David Friedrich during the 19^th Century. In this painting he included a self-portrait of himself with his back towards to viewer suggesting he wanted the viewer to look at nature through the artist’s perspective (Caspar). As a Romantic Landscape painter, Friedrich’s greatest achievement was to turn landscapes in to a spiritual and mysterious scene (Caspar). The “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” showed the peak of Romantic paintings during the Romantic era. The painting suggested men’s development and exhilaration, or fear and terror.

The first significant that can be seen is how the artist painted the Wanderer or himself looking out towards the misty scene, standing above the peak. This suggested the painter wanted the viewer to look at the world through his perspective. The man not showing his face gave the viewer a sense of mystery. Besides giving a sense of mystery, he wanted to focus on the power of nature instead of men. The use of multiple layers of both opaque and transparent clouds enabled Friedrich to achieve a natural lighting effect (Caspar).  The sea of fog covering up the scene and the peak of mountain gave the viewer another sense of mystery. Friedrich used a sea of fog to cover up nature suggesting the mystery and the unknown about nature. With the Wanderer standing on top of the mountain blending in to the sea of fog, we question whether men reached the pioneer of their development or is there a mysterious power of nature that was never seen before?

The Romantic Era was a response to the Industrial and Scientific Revolutions believing that science would solve the mysteries about nature and the universe. However until today, men still have not revealed the mysteries about it. This suggests that the power of nature is so powerful that it should not be under-estimated.