Romanticism in Germany
Friedrich, A Walk at Dusk Caspar David Friedrich, A Walk at Dusk, oil on canvas, ca. 1830-1835 (The Getty Center, Los Angeles) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris, Dr. Steven Zucker
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- We are looking at Caspar David Friedrich,
- German romantic artist.
- It is a painting called “A walk at dusk”
- and dates to somewhere between 1830 and 1835.
- And it is supposed to be late Friedrich.
- -Yes, it’s really late one. - And it’s small.
- It's only maybe 16 inches...
- Right 18 inches, something like that.
- It's small.
- And it’s so recognizably Friedrich, you know,
- it’s got this alone figure, a kind of twilight or dusk.
- Deep dusk.
- And of course it’s got a kind of neolithic tomb or
- megalithic, or something that’s got a large stone
- in a kind of coffin shape.
- A small figure of a man standing nearby,
- looking at the tomb.
- Obviously contemplating mortality
- and the meaning of life
- and whether there is life after death.
- The way is that we could transcend the human lifetime in a number of different ways, right?
- Because you’ve got this figure himself
- contemplating perhaps his own death.
- I think the museum is suggesting
- that this might be Friedrich.
- But then you’ve got this,
- he’s contemplating death
- in front of ancient tomb.
- The tomb is probably 4000 years old and you know,
- what is death mean in that kind of historic timeframe.
- And then you’ve got nature itself.
- In a kind of wintery landscape, I think, right?
- - With the bare trees - Yeah trees are …leaves…
- At least in the foreground.
- So you’ve got this notion of a kind of
- renewal in nature,
- and then you’ve got the sky.
- And actually the whole thing is quite beautiful.
- Greish, green...
- You really indulge in a sort of somber, quite, contemplative state.
- But you can think of it as
- a kind of modern, religious painting?
- - Absolutely. - Of a contemplation of the meaning,
- - By the way, I think we’re suppose to identify with that figure - I think we step light into...
- - Either at that moment, in nature, alone, very quiet, at dusk... - And in a way ...
- …and end of life, in the way of metaphor.
- So do you think that that’s the way Friedrich wanted his paintings just to be approached?
- -Quietly, perhaps individually? -I think so, yeah.
- I’m not sure that the museum setting
- is exactly right for it.
- With that sort of noise of people in the public.
- -Some these paintings are actually quite alter like. -That's true.
- So the contemplative and spiritual.
- And I think it’s often the quality of that and we certainly see that here.
- And then we’ve got the sort of offside and it’s really interesting kind of composition
- because you’ve got the small man placed in the diminished scale
- in nature, especially against the mass of that rock.
- - You’ve got this trees grow up. - Up from the rock almost. -That's right.
- And then of course you’ve got an image of the moon and a couple of stars or
- planets that may be just becoming visible
- as the night darkens.
- It’s really, it’s quiet, it’s beautiful,
- and it’s this moment in history when
- this tremendous, romantic moment
- when I think artists are looking for new ways of representing the spiritual.
- Right, and what by romantic we don’t mean like
- the normal usage of our way of using romantic.
- No, no, no. Not in terms of love.
- But in something more emotional,
- something more expressive.
- The really privilegous human emotions,
- I think that’s exactly right.
Be specific, and indicate a time in the video:
At 5:31, how is the moon large enough to block the sun? Isn't the sun way larger?
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