I touched on the spacing a little bit earlier. I think the extensive use of gray is meant to give ambiguity to the scene and over-exaggerate the fogginess of the area. The man is wearing black pants and a black coat with a white shirt collar exposed, and has blonde hair. The rocks, mountains, and fog are gray, and while the water is a deep blue, the splashing of waves is grayish white, further adding to the grayness. The painting is particularly gray, with little variation, giving it a somber, almost ominous atmosphere. This juxtaposition shows how small mankind is on a cosmic scale, while paying homage to man’s defiant instincts and tendency to try to shape the world for his own anyways.įour elements that could be used to critique this painting are color scheme, space, the positioning of the man, and environment portrayed. However, the man stands with confidence before all this, almost as if he has no regard for the hazard around him. One can’t look at the painting without instinctively putting yourself in the man’s shoes and imagining how small he must feel before such a vast and immense display of environment. We continue to exist in spite of nature - if mother nature really wanted to, she could wipe us off the face of the planet with a single sweep. People nowadays naively clamor to protect the environment without realizing that if it came down to it, mankind is no match for nature, nature poses a bigger threat to us as a species than we could ever hope to pose to the environment. Other than the man, the entire scene of the painting shows the brutal might of nature: restless waves colliding with jagged rocks below a treacherous cloud of fog, the sea reaching out beyond the line of sight with ominous mountains looming in the distance. Also, there’s simply the pure aesthetic appeal of the painting: it’s interesting to look at and the suggestions it makes captivates the imagination.
I believe it captures the spirit of romanticism while also incorporating its own distinctly German elements to it - if you have even a shallow familiarity with art history, you look at it and just know it’s German. Recognized throughout the entire world, it is one of the most famous and iconic Romantic paintings. Completed in 1818, the oil painting is representative of the German Romantic era it depicts a man in a coat with a cane standing on a rocky outcropping with his back turned gazing out at a violent, foggy sea. The work of fine art I chose to critique is one of my all-time favorite pieces of art, the painting Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)
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