1834 (ca.), Caspar David Friedrich, The Stages of Life -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: The mirrored curves of the coastline, the placid water, and a ruler-straight horizon provide a crisp background for onshore human drama. The figures are frequently interpreted as, from left, Friedrich; his nephew Karl Heinrich; Friedrich's children Gustav and Agnes; and either Friedrich's wife, Caroline, or his eldest daughter, Emma. Their proximity to the boats suggests a metaphor for the phases of human life, though the five people do not align clearly with the six vessels (a beached craft lies in the foreground). The gestures of the young man and woman, pointing to the children at center, indicate that one theme of the painting is generational continuity.
1834 (ca.), Caspar David Friedrich, The Stages of Life -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: The mirrored curves of the coastline, the placid water, and a ruler-straight horizon provide a crisp background for onshore human drama. The figures are frequently interpreted as, from left, Friedrich; his nephew Karl Heinrich; Friedrich's children Gustav and Agnes; and either Friedrich's wife, Caroline, or his eldest daughter, Emma. Their proximity to the boats suggests a metaphor for the phases of human life, though the five people do not align clearly with the six vessels (a beached craft lies in the foreground). The gestures of the young man and woman, pointing to the children at center, indicate that one theme of the painting is generational continuity.