Wanderer Over a Sea of Fog (1818)
Wanderer over a Sea of Fog, by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)
If you’ve ever played a video game in which a character explores an immersive world, say “Skyrim” or “Zelda: The Ocarina of Time”, then you’ll already be familiar with a key stylistic feature of so-called “Romantic” art in the 19th century that has carried over into contemporary pop-culture: what is known as “Rückenfigur”, which translates from the German into “Back-Figure.”
“Rückenfigur” is a compositional device in art, similar to an “over-the-shoulder” view in cinema. It allows the viewer to identify with the figure, and share their view of the landscape. It’s essentially a way to draw the viewer into the painting, and to make them feel like the character who’s being depicted.
In the case of Caspar David Friedrich’s “Der Wanderer Über dem Nebelmeer” (or “Wanderer over the Sea of Fog), we identify with a young man who has just reached the summit of a mountaintop.
It’s one of the most famous examples of romantic painting, and it manages to invoke in equal measure a sense of the sublime, individual opportunity, and -to me at least- a desire for adventure. One could easily imagine this as a photograph for The North Face‘s “Never Stop Exploring” ad campaign.
This sense of idealization, and the almost mythical encounter of the free subject with the open horizon of his or her own opportunity, was a key characteristic of romantic art. In contrast to moral and figurative art, there was no pedantic message about how to live one’s life.
Instead, the promise of the painting seemed to be that it was up to you to make the most of your life. As Goethe, a champion of romantic art and indeed one of the founding father’s of German romanticism was to write:
“The work of art may have a moral effect, but to demand moral purpose from the artist is to make him ruin his work.”
It’s an interesting distinction. Can a painting have “moral effect” even if the painter didn’t have a “moral intent”? For Goethe, the answer was clear. Romantic art was supposed to encourage the individual to make his own way in life, not to do as he was told.
Julian
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