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| Caspar David Friedrich Window overlooking a Park ca. 1810-11 wash drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich On a Sailing Ship ca. 1818-20 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Morning in the Mountains before 1823 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Memories of the Riesengebirge 1835 canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
"Caspar David Friedrich was the sole landscape painter who...had the power to move every part of my soul, the one who created a new genre: the tragedy of landscape," wrote sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers. Friedrich aimed to produce a Christian art based in nature, divested of standard biblical imagery. After training in Copenhagen from 1794 to 1798, Friedrich settled in Dresden and later taught at the Dresden Academy. His first works were sepia landscapes. In 1807 he began working in oils and immediately caused a sensation: his Cross in the Mountains, installed in a private chapel, used landscape to evoke the spirit of the Crucifixion. Shocked by his use of secular genre for a religious purpose, critics accused Friedrich of sacrilege. Friedrich's oeuvre encompasses scenes of ruined Gothic churches, cemeteries, desolate landscapes, and silent figures in vast spaces, all deeply spiritual and often melancholy. He was the first artist to create awe before nature and to infuse landscape and light with emotional and symbolic content. By 1835 Friedrich was nearly paralyzed and could make only sepia landscapes. He died in Dresden sad, lonely, and poor. His immediate influence was confined to a few students, but his work was rediscovered at century's end."
– from curator's notes at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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| Caspar David Friedrich Rock Gates at Neurathen ca. 1826-28 watercolor Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich The Dreamer (Ruins of Oybin Monastery) ca. 1835 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Swans in Reeds before 1832 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Moonrise over the Sea 1821 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Seashore (Fishing nets) ca. 1835 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Night in the Harbor (Sisters) ca. 1818-20 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Owl in Gothic window ca. 1836 wash drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Boat on the shore (Moonrise) ca. 1837-39 wash drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Moonrise (Two men on the shore) ca. 1835-37 wash drawing Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Caspar David Friedrich Sunset (Brothers) ca. 1830-35 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |