Exercise #17 – Answers
Q.1. What you see in this painting?
A.1. A young man with a walking stick in his right hand, is seen from behind, standing on his right leg, on a high mountainous rock. He is looking down on other dark mountain peaks below partially covered in mist and wispy clouds. Opposite him is the outline of other higher mountains and rocks. The wind blows his reddish curly hair and the clouds below from left to right.
Q.2. Do you think that the male figure has been out for a hike on the mountain? State why you say yes or no.
A.2. No, as he is not dressed as one would expect for a hiker, even if this is clearly not a figure from our times. Rather he is wearing a fashionable dark green velvet ¾ length coat, a white shirt and stylish leather boots. He looks more like a 19th century gentleman out for an evening stroll.
Q.3. Why do you think that the painter has shown the figure from behind? How does it make you feel? Does it alter how you interpret the painting?
A.3. I think, as there is no particular story (narrative) being told, that painting the figure from behind makes him anonymous and so he stands in for us , the viewers (irrespective of which time). I am looking at what he is looking at, feeling what he might be feeling in face of the power, wonder and mystery of nature. I think by painting a lone man in nature that it leaves many interpretations open-ended. There is, for example, a sense of time and contemplating what my place might be in the world.
Notes
Caspar David Friedrich was a German artist who was part of the 19th century Romantic movement which sought to foster a focus on the wonder of nature, the inner self and the spiritual, in opposition to Enlightenment’s reliance on reason. His landscapes did not merely describe or represent what he saw, but rather, a response to it. They demonstrate his powers of intense observation in works that suggest rather than give didactic meaning. In this way they allow more space for the viewer to enter the work and make their own meaning. The Wanderer becomes in some ways a metaphor for deep looking, uncertainty, and life itself.
The Wanderer was voted best picture of the year in 2006.
“Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature” is currently showing at the Metropolitan Museum, New York until May 11th 2025. This is the first comprehensive exhibition of his work in the United States.