Master of German Romantic landscape, painter of solitude and the sublime
The emblem of German Romantic landscape. He painted seas of fog, barren peaks, ruins, and solitary backs, setting a tiny human alone before a vast and mysterious nature, forcing a sense of the "sublime" that mixes awe, melancholy, and the spiritual. In Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, a man stands on a summit with his back to us, gazing down at the surging clouds — that solitary contemplating back became the most famous symbol of the whole Romantic spirit.
The man in Wanderer above the Sea of Fog keeps his back to the viewer; we never see his face, only follow his gaze out over the vast clouds. Friedrich painted it so on purpose: he lets every viewer place themselves into that back, alone before the immensity of nature and the unknown of life.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.