The first painting is an oil painting by Caspar David Friedrich, ‘The Monk by the sea’ which was painted in the early 1800s. A lone monk stands left from the centre on an uneven beige foreground with the highest point being the ground that the monk stands on, closest to the sea. It depicts his longing to be closer to the unknown and perhaps his need for solitude and ignites a feeling of being on the brink of the edge. There’s nothing in the sea, sky and the painting apart from the monk himself. Whom is highlighted, as vertically above the monk is a parting of clouds with sunlight peeking through, it acts as a spotlight emphasising his status of loneliness.
Friedrich used a minimalistic approach as ‘five-sixths of the canvas’ (“Web Gallery of Art, Searchable Fine Arts Image Database”) is this void of a sky; blue-grey clouds loom above the monk and eventually becoming calmer blues higher up the painting you go. The colours and approach fit in with Romanticism which was popular at the time of this painting and was Friedrich’s expertise. The isolation represented by the monk advocates the Romantic idea of individualism and illustrates Friedrich’s emotions.
Friedrich has stated that he requires ‘complete solitude for his dialogue with nature’ (Friedrich et al.) when asked to be accompanied on a trip to Switzerland which he declined. Friedrich and the monk share the same desire to be isolated and Friedrich believed an ‘artist should not only paint what he sees before him, but also what he sees within him’ (“Casper David Friedrich 1774-1840 – Flatford and Constable”). Another painting by Friedrich that demonstrates these same feelings is Two men by the sea, even though there’s two people instead of one, they stand apart in another realm Friedrich creates that is as desolate as The monk by the sea.
