Caspar David Friederich: Dreamer (Ruins of the Oybin)

Dreamer (Ruins of the Oybin), 1835
entered the Hermitage in 1918
transferred from the Anichkov Palace
(image source: pinterest)
no copyright infringement intended

This time the Rückenfigur is no longer a man. but the ruin of a cathedral. There is also the man here, of course, only he is rather completing our circle of viewers.

Here the portal of the cathedral has the role of Sprecher, of Vorleser: the priest staying in front of us, with his back to us, looking ahead, contemplating the infinite, focusing us on it. I read somewhere about the Sprecher from the medieval mysteries. Elsewhere I found again the Rückenfigur, referred to Buddhist rituals.

So is here the cathedral portal acting as a silent Sprecher? Or maybe the trees behind? Then the portal having the role of the Beatiful Gate from Eastern Orthodox churches?

I like Friederich's work a lot, while also it scares me a little. Maybe because of his too mystical approach? I'm much more relaxed in front of a Constable (or even a Turner), his contemporaries.

Or maybe what frightens me at Friederich is his very modern radicalism? Everyting reduced to the essence, we as the viewers and co-participants, the Sprecher in the middle, the background suggesting the ultimate impenetrability of the Universe?



(Caspar David Friedrich)