The city of Greifswald opened its anniversary year for Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) with a celebration in St. Nikolai Cathedral. The painter is one of the university town’s most famous sons. The cathedral is Friedrich’s baptismal church – it would have been 250 years old in 2024. Friedrich is considered the most important artist of German Romanticism.
“Romanticism has deeply influenced our visual memory, our experience of art – and Caspar David Friedrich played a very large part in this, a huge part,” said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), who together with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD ) is an umbrella woman.
The keynote speech was given by author and art historian Florian Illies – his book “The Magic of Silence” not only tells of the incredible rediscovery of Caspar David Friedrich, but is in its twelfth week at number one on the “Spiegel” bestseller list for non-fiction books. Friedrich was “our contemporary,” said Illies. In 250 years, the artist has managed to “grow out of his time and into our time in a unique way.”
