Caspar David Friedrich's Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog

Formal Analysis of Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog In Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, there is a man holding a cane and staring out into mountains covered by fog. The wanderer, as can be assumed from the title of the piece, is standing on a pile of rocks. The painting is from 1818, and it is currently located in Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany. While the piece displays varied individual properties, together, they unify the piece and convey a sense of tranquility. Although the line work in this painting is varied, they are not presented in a jarring way. Friedrich uses mainly horizontal lines in the sky, which is creates calmness. Diagonal lines are used for the fog halfway down the painting, and vertical lines are seen in the creases of the man’s coat. The lines used around the rocks in both the midfield and the ones the wanderer is standing on are jagged, and they contrast the

There are lines painted in different directions, such as the diagonal lines of the mist and mountains, vertical lines of the man’s coat, and horizontal lines of the sky. However, they all contribute to the unity of the piece because they are angled inward to become leading lines. They guide our eyes to the center of the artwork, the man. The colors are also opposites of one another—the man’s coat is green, but the rocks he is standing on have a reddish, brownish hue. However, they do not clash because Friedrich uses a darker hue. Lastly, the composition, although symmetrical, still has varying amounts of visual weights that are off center. For example, the main mountain is located on the left side of the painting, but it is still comfortable to look at because if it were on top of the man, it would feel like an unsettling tangent. There are details that, painted individually, may seem uncooperative with one another. However, together, they unify the piece and instill calmness in the