On a search for new art work to adorn my newly renovated walls, this
candidate (by Caspar Friedrich) caught my eye. The subject appeals to me because of my lifetime of philosophic travel, forging through thousands of years of fog. I stress candidate because this painting is new to me. I'm still digesting it.
What I don't like is that the man is looking down into the fog from his vantage point. It's as if he still has questions lingering in the fog. I'd like to see his head lifted upward toward sunlight and new heights to climb, emphasizing leaving the fog behind forever.
2 comments:
Caspar Friedrich was a Romantic. The human is not supposed to be the focal point. The ideal trend of Romanticism was not to have man overpower nature, it was quite the contrary. The man has his back facing the viewers and does so in a defeated posture with a cane in his hand resembling old age. The purpose of the fog is to show that nature has total domination over the unnatural world. The fog shows that people cannot see the entirety of nature.
Thank you for your comment Brinda. That's interesting.
If that's an accurate summary of 19th century Romanticism, then too bad for them.
To hold as an ideal having no power over nature is antithetical to man's climb from caves, swamps, and short life spans to the Age of Enlightenment that created the freest, greatest country in history. I hold to ideals that embrace that climb and inspire it to ever greater heights. I hold to the Romantic school advocated by Ayn Rand. You can see a summary of it at http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/romanticism.html.
Post a Comment