Friedrich's The Monk by the Sea (1809)
Casper David Friedrich was a German Romantic artist who was best known for landscapes but painted this between 1808 and 1810 when it was put on display with The Abby in the Oakwood:
These paintings were not much like his others as he was portraying God as a vast higher power directly related to the nature on Earth. They were very unlike some of his previous pieces:
The Monk by the Sea is said to be Friedrich's most radical composition and he displays the characteristics of a Romantic artist very well in his oil painting. During the Romantic Era it was very likely to have landscape paintings with an emotional twist. With the presence of the Monk the painting portrays the presence of a higher power but the irony is the strange use of depth. It is a tradition technique to have a sense of depth in a painting but Friedrich goes against tradition, very common in the Romantic Era, and uses almost no depth in the painting. The vastness of the sea and sky show the meagerness of the Monk standing in front of the expanse of what he believes to be God.
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