1822, Caspar David Friedrich, Woman at the Window -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: In 1820 Friedrich moved his growing family to a new home overlooking the Elbe River in Dresden. This painting depicts his workspace there; the woman gazing at boats is said to be his wife, Caroline. Shortly after they married, the artist wrote to his relatives, "It amuses me that I must now always do everything with my wife in mind. If I put a nail in the wall ... it must be at a height she can reach.... Many things have changed.... Only the room I use to work is the same." Although the only signs of creative activity are the bottles, perhaps containing paint binder, the scene is nonetheless a meditation on Friedrich's vocation. The repeated rectangles play with the idea of the painted surface as a window onto the natural world.
1822, Caspar David Friedrich, Woman at the Window -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: In 1820 Friedrich moved his growing family to a new home overlooking the Elbe River in Dresden. This painting depicts his workspace there; the woman gazing at boats is said to be his wife, Caroline. Shortly after they married, the artist wrote to his relatives, "It amuses me that I must now always do everything with my wife in mind. If I put a nail in the wall ... it must be at a height she can reach.... Many things have changed.... Only the room I use to work is the same." Although the only signs of creative activity are the bottles, perhaps containing paint binder, the scene is nonetheless a meditation on Friedrich's vocation. The repeated rectangles play with the idea of the painted surface as a window onto the natural world.