RoR: Forum

Hi Lauren,

I also love the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich. He makes such great use of light and colour to create powerful, stark, images. Actually isn't this one supposed to be a self-portrait of the artist himself?

There is another one I particularly like from the cover of a book - it had sleeping beauty lying in a bed of blood red roses.

Unfortunately, Caspar was mainly inspired by religion - but then many great painters are.

(Edited by Marcus Bachler on 5/27, 8:23am)

Post 1

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 9:18am

Wow, that's a really nice painting. Reminds me of Turner's style with his ships at sea. I'd never heard of Friedrich before. Don't know how I missed him. I'll look up the rest of his stuff. Thank you, Lauren and Marcus.

Btw, Ludwig von's Ninth has been my favorite piece of music for 17 years, ever since I heard it for the first time. I've probably listened to it more than a thousand times by now, I reckon, and at least once every couple of weeks. I love the tempo and foreshadowing of the first and second movements. The adagio may be my favorite piece of music to listen to at any given moment anytime (it may be the one piece of music I would choose to take with me to an island). And, of course, the fourth movement is life-affirming and ebullient. I simply don't know how Ayn Rand could have called Beethoven malevolent. He is ominous at moments, but uses it as a counterpose to the overwhelming predominance of happiness and exultation in his music. There was very little sturm and drang in him.

Post 2

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 5:59am

Thanks for posting this.

I don't agree that it shows nobility, I can't interpret that quality without an anterior view but our view is to his back.

My interpretation is of man taking his place in nature. At another time the scene could be the same but with a scrambling savage, perhaps in a loin cloth, paying no heed to the view but simply trying to survive the elements. But here we have a man under whome nature is tamed, it is a leisure activity for him to bestride the elements. Romance, reality, reason, confidence, civilisation.

Because of that J.S.Mill haircut and the garb I can't help placing it in early C19th England when the Classical Economists and Utopian Socialists were trying to figure out the Industrial Revolution. Here is a man who is gazing into nature's depths from a position of self-confidence.

Post 3

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 11:04am

"Malevolent"? I never knew that Rand had such a flawed opinion of Beethoven. He quite consciously set out to write pro-man heroic music, being chiefly influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment. Besides the Ninth, I would also suggest the Third, the Fifth, his string quartets (especially the later ones), and his piano sonatas (especially the early ones). It's hard to go wrong with Beethoven.

Post 4

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 12:17pm

The guy is preparing himself to wander through the fog and to find his way to those plateaus in the distance. He's thinking, "For fuck's sake! This fog is unbelievable!" but he knows there's only one way to get there.

Post 5

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 12:40pm

No he's thinking, "What a waste of under-utilized real estate! Wait until I get some factories and buildings on there and whip this bastard piece of land into shape!" ;-)

Post 6

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 12:58pm

At least put up a billboard or two......

Post 7

Friday, May 27, 2005 - 1:22pm

No he's thinking, "What a waste of under-utilized real estate! Wait until I get some factories and buildings on there and whip this bastard piece of land into shape!" ;-)

Haha!

Post 8

Sunday, May 29, 2005 - 9:50pm

Once again the sublime has been degenerated.

Who wants to be next to share some beauty? Lets see how much beauty we can mock before next April Fool's.

Post 9

Monday, May 30, 2005 - 3:50am

Beauty? - looks more like just an illustration from a book, perhaps one by Porter....

Post 10

Thursday, June 16, 2005 - 11:42am

Hi, Lauren,
Thanks for posting Friedrich's work, "Wanderer above a Sea of Fog." I love this paiting. Friedrich was a German romantic, and I think this was done in 1818? His particular style, to me, conveys psychologically-based emotions--well, I'm not saying that right. It's like the difference between sadness and quiet reverence...perhaps I should say the emotions are more intellectually-based or internal and not reactionary or externally-based?

I think the man in the painting has just gone through a difficult time, and he is contemplating things within his control and things that are not...perhaps he's wondering what the future holds now and deciding where he will go. Like the fog, he is unclear about things, but he seems assured that a change is imminent.

~Allison

Post 11

Friday, June 17, 2005 - 7:29pm

Conan Fan,-

Beauty? - looks more like just an illustration from a book

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. So much the worse for you then and for the rest of them who keep perverting the course of analysis and appreciation.

If you wont take leave of this attitude, this habit, why don't you go down the beach and kick down some kid's sand castles? That at least would have the virtue of proportion.

I find it offensive and I am not alone.

Post 12

Saturday, June 18, 2005 - 11:06am