# The Wanderer above the Mists [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FRIEDRICH, Caspar David]() - Date: 1801-1850 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 95 x 75 cm ## Commentary Caspar David Friedrich, protagonist of German Romantic art and one of the greatest of European landscapists, painted his famous Wanderer above the Mists in c. 1818. It embodies the quintessence of the principles of the Romantic landscape aesthetic, showing a lonely figure confronting nature in astonished reverence. In the foreground we see the dark silhouette of a rocky promontory, where a wayfarer stands looking out over dense fog and spires of rock in the valley towards distant mountains and peaks. High above these stretches a bank of clouds. The scenic excerpt is dominated by the deep space of a vista, prompting us to wonder what lies beyond. Friedrich's figures who habitually turn their backs to gaze into the horizon or stare from windows with rapt attention are images of the artist. His Wanderer, frock-coated and stick in hand, has climbed to a rocky peak above swirling mountain mists; the viewer looks with his eyes, the angle of vision being exactly aligned to their level in the picture space. The foreground, the conventional plateau to give the viewer a fix on the subject, has been entirely dispensed with. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 8 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/schubert/schubert\_liszt\_wanderer.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Franz Schubert: Der Wanderer, Franz Liszt's transcription</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich, Reading]() - [Boats in the Harbour at Evening]() - [Bohemian Landscape with Mount Milleschauer]() - [Chalk Cliffs at Rügen]() - [Chalk Cliffs on Rügen]() - [Cross in the Mountains]() - [Cross in the Mountains \(Tetschen Altar\)]() - [Cross in the Mountains \(Tetschen Altar\)]() - [Dolmen in the Snow]() - [Drifting Clouds]() - [Easter Morning]() - [Evening Landscape with Two Men]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()