15 Quotes by Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich, a renowned German Romantic painter, is celebrated for his evocative and deeply emotional landscapes. His works often depicted sublime and melancholic scenes, featuring solitary figures amidst dramatic natural settings, symbolizing the grandeur and insignificance of human existence in the face of nature's awe-inspiring power. Friedrich's artistic style emphasized the spiritual and emotional connection between man and nature, and his paintings often evoked a sense of introspection and contemplation in viewers.
His mastery of light, shadow, and atmosphere lent an otherworldly quality to his art, making him one of the most prominent figures of the Romantic movement. Despite initially facing criticism during his lifetime, Friedrich's works eventually gained recognition for their profound emotional depth and artistic originality. Today, his paintings are treasured in museums worldwide, and his enduring influence on the art world continues to inspire artists and art enthusiasts alike to find beauty and meaning in the natural world.
Caspar David Friedrich Quotes
You call me a misanthrope because I avoid society. You err; I love society. Yet in order not to hate people, I must avoid their company.
All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it.
The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him.
The eye and fantasy feel more attracted by nebulous distance than by that which is close and distinct in front of us.
Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first with the eye of the spirit. Then bring to light what you have seen in the darkness, that its effect may work back, from without to within.
"When a scene is shrouded in mist, it seems greater, nobler, and heightens the viewers' imaginative powers, increasing expectation - like a veiled girl. Generally the eye and the imagination are more readily drawn by nebulous distance than by what is perfectly plain for all to see"
Every true work of art must express a distinct feeling.
The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art.
A painting which does not take its inspiration from the heart is nothing more than futile juggling.
The feelings of another person should never be imposed upon us as a law.
The artist should paint not only what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also refrain from painting that which he sees before him. Otherwise, his pictures will be like those folding screens behind which one expects to find only the sick or the dead.
Just as the pious man prays without speaking a word and the Almighty hearkens unto him, so the artist with true feelings paints and the sensitive man understands and recognizes it.
The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand; there I represented it in the reeds.
God is everywhere, in the smallest grain of sand.
What the newer landscape artists see in a circle of a hundred degrees in Nature they press together unmercifully into an angle of vision of only forty-five degrees. And furthermore, what is in Nature separated by large spaces, is compressed into a cramped space and overfills and oversatiates the eye, creating an unfavorable and disquieting effect on the viewer.
― Caspar David Friedrich Quotes
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Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
