Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was born in Greifswald, Germany and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen before settling in Dresden.
He defied academic tradition by seeking out his own sources of inspiration, which he found in nature, often on walks in the picturesque countryside around Dresden. And it was in Dresden that Friedrich raised a family. He enjoyed a period of great success and then saw his art fall out of favour.
More than half a century after his death in 1840, he was rediscovered at the 1906 German Centennial Art Exhibition in Berlin and was celebrated as a pioneer of modern art. His popularity continues to this day, perhaps because there is something deeply moving in his art about humanity's relationship to the natural world and the concept of nature.
