Two travelers walk through the twilight among evergreen pines. Their figures are so small that they can not even be understood – men are either women, elders or boys. As always in such cases in Frederick, one can make the assumption that this is “generally people” walking along the road of life. Twilight is gathering, the green of the trees seems almost black. But ahead, between the trunks of the pines, the attentive spectator will see a soft but warm light. He promises strangers that the end of their journey is already near.
Comprehension of the symbol V. A. Zhukovsky, having met in 1821 with Friedrich, wrote about him: “He looks at nature not as an artist who seeks in it only a model for a brush, but as a man who in nature sees incessantly the symbol of human life” . Loneliness and intense contemplation are Frederick’s creative credo.
Surprisingly, this is so – the artist never showed any particular interest either to the canvases of old masters, or to the works of contemporaries. Was this “ignorance” conscious? Or was Friedrich walking his own way, obeying only artistic instinct? Consciously or unconsciously – but he always seemed to move away from himself mediators who could stand between him and nature, block her from him.
Another’s manner of writing, an alien view of the world of God – all this only hindered him. And in this Frederick was a perfect Protestant. He wanted himself, without relying on anyone’s interpretation, to read the Gospel inscribed on the face of the Earth.
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)