Read aloud
Short biography
1774
Caspar David Friedrich is born on 5 September in Greifswald as the sixth of ten children tosoap and candlemaker Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich and his wife Sophie Dorothea.
Friedrichs baptism record still exists today and will be on display in 2024.
Photo: © Ralph Eckardt
1787
His brother Johann Christoffer drowns attempting to rescue Caspar David after he falls through the ice while ice skating.
1788 – 1794
Art lessons with Johann Gottfried Quistorp, master builder and teacher of academic art at the
University of Greifswald.
1794 – 1798
Study at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts in Copenhagen, one of the most advanced
academies in Europe at the time.
1798
Move to Dresden
1802/ 1806
2nd and 3rd journey to Rügen
1808
At Christmas, Friedrich presents his first oil painting Cross in the Mountains (also known as
Tetschen Altar; Galerie Neuer Meister, Dresden). It meets with both enthusiastic acclaim and
decisive objection.
1809
In April, Friedrich travels to Neubrandenburg and stays in his home city of Greifswald over
the following months. His father Adolf Gottlieb dies on 6 November.
1810
In July, Friedrich hikes through the Giant Mountains with a fellow painter from Mecklenburg.
In autumn, he presents both his paintings The Monk by the Sea (1808/10, Alte
Nationalgalerie, Berlin) and The Abbey in the Oakwood (1809/10, Alte Nationalgalerie,
Berlin) at the Berlin academy exhibition. The works are bought by the Prussian Crown
Prince.
1815
In mid-July Friedrich travels to Pomerania and stays on the island of Rügen until mid-August.
In September he is in Greifswald and visits St. Mary’s Church to present his designs for the
altar construction. The city council rejects Friedrich’s designs.
1816
Friedrich becomes a member of the Dresden Royal Academy of Arts and from then on
receives a fixed salary.
1817 - 1818
Friedrich presents the city of Stralsund with his designs for the interior of St. Mary’s Church in Stralsund, but these are rejected by the city council. On 21 January 1818 he marries Caroline Bommer, barely 20 years old, from Dresden. She appears in many of his paintings
as a Rückenfigur.
In June he and his wife travel to Greifswald, Wolgast, Stralsund and to the island of Rügen.
The Caspar David Friedrich Centre gives exciting insights into the painter’s life.
Photo: © Ralph Eckardt
1819
Friedrich’s daughter Emma is born on 30 August.
1823
Johann Christian Dahl, a lifelong friend of Friedrich, rents an apartment in the same house as Friedrich (An der Elbe 33). On 2 September Friedrich‘s second daughter Agnes Adelheid is born.
1824
Friedrich is appointed professor at the Dresden Royal Academy of Arts yet is not entrusted with the vacant position of head of the landscape painting class.
On 23 December Friedrich becomes father to a son, who he names Gustav Adolf after the Swedish King.
1826
On 22 May Friedrich travels to the island of Rügen for a convalescent holiday. It will be his last visit to his home city.
1835
Friedrich suffers a stroke on 26 June, which leads to paralysis of the right hand. Friedrich returns to work, but using oils is very difficult. He prefers watercolours and sepia techniques.
1837
After the second stroke, Friedrich is almost completely paralysed. He completely gives up his artistic work.
1840
On 7 May he dies in Dresden and is buried on 10 May at the Trinitatis cemetery in Dresden-Johannstadt.