“Caspar David Friedrich. Where it all began” – this is the title under which the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) are concluding the series of presentations to mark the 250th birthday of the master of German Romanticism. At two locations, the Albertinum and the Kupferstich-Kabinett in the Residenzschloss, around 180 works will provide insight into Friedrich’s work and painting technique from Saturday (24 August), but also into his emotional world and his life and artistic environment.
Until the beginning of January 2025, the SKD will be showing its collection of paintings and drawings by the artist, who was born in Greifswald and for whom Dresden was the center of life for a good four decades. “All of his paintings that exist were created here,” says curator Wolfgang Birkholz.
Some paintings can only be seen in Dresden
A total of 47 paintings are on display in the Albertinum. With “Ships in the Harbor in the Evening,” the “Cemetery” and the “Great Enclosure near Dresden,” some of the most important landscape paintings are only being presented in the city on the Elbe. The “Tetschen Altar” is also leaving its permanent display case on the upper floor of the museum – and is getting a temporary replacement.
There are also famous works among the 30 loans. For example, “The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” from the Hamburger Kunsthalle and “Moonrise by the Sea” and “The Watzmann” from the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. “It’s about the main themes that play an important role for Friedrich,” says Birkholz, listing them: figures from behind, political images, cemeteries, souvenir images, color, trees and religion. Drawings with motifs that can be found in oil come from the Kupferstich-Kabinett.
Friedrich’s mastery matures in Dresden
“Friedrich came to Dresden in 1798, primarily to study the works of art in the picture gallery,” reports Birkholz. He began painting here in 1807 and became “probably the most important artist of German Romanticism.” He remained in the city on the Elbe until his death in May 1840. Friedrich studied works by the Old Masters, took part in contemporary art debates, and hiked in the immediate and wider area of the city to be inspired by nature.
And the artist, “who is always seen as such an isolated figure,” founded a family in the then royal city of Dresden and built up a large network.
Print Cabinet shows fragile treasures
At the same time, the Kupferstich-Kabinett is highlighting the draughtsman Friedrich and his artistic thought and creative process until mid-November. There are around 145 works gathered there, around 60 of them from Dresden’s holdings. The highlight is the “Karlsruhe Sketchbook”, which was acquired in July for 1.7 million euros and was created in Dresden and the surrounding area in the summer of 1804. The purchase was jointly financed by the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the SKD, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Kulturstiftung der Länder and other sponsors.
Fragile studies, drafts and drawings, normally kept in a safe place in the depot, show how Friedrich captured landscapes, gnarled trees or rugged rocks with clarity and precision, using pencil and pen – in Dresden, Saxon Switzerland, Rügen or the Giant Mountains. The rarely shown examples among the approximately 70 loans include “The Rock Gate in the Uttewalder Grund” from Essen, “Huns by the Sea” from Weimar and the series of works on the “Plauenscher Grund”.
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