Caspar Friedrich’s (1774-1840) paintings express a new, romantic relationship between humankind and nature. With his atmospheric landscapes and pictorial inventions, he redefined the genre of landscape painting and gave it new dimensions.
His outstanding artistic position, his innovative power and his groundbreaking contribution to art history are undisputed, but his work is still controversially discussed today.
Some interpret them as religious symbols, others as political messages. At the same time, they are expressions of emotional sensitivities and sober depictions of scientific precision.
Only now, more attention is being paid to the inspiration of Friedrich, which artists he admired and how they influenced it.
In the exhibition (at the Reinhart am Stadtgarten Museum), the representatives of early mood landscape are put into the perspective of Friedrich’s works. These include Dutch landscape painters of the Golden Age, masters such as Claude Lorrain or Adrian Zingg and other landscape painters of the 18th century.
Friedrich’s work can be discussed and discovered by juxtaposing these important artistic precursors.
The Kunst Museum Winterthur has the most important group of works on German Romanticism outside the Federal Republic.