{"product_id":"the-monk-by-the-sea-caspar-david-friedrich","title":"The Monk by the Sea — Caspar David Friedrich","description":"\u003ch2\u003eA tiny figure facing infinity\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA pale strip of dune, a band of near-black sea, and above them an immense sky that fills almost the whole canvas. Standing on the shore, a single monk in a dark habit, barely a few centimetres tall, looks out at the horizon. Painted between 1808 and 1810, \u003cem\u003eThe Monk by the Sea\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the most radical images of the Romantic era and the masterpiece of Caspar David Friedrich, the great German painter of the sublime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe painting that stunned Berlin\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFriedrich showed the work at the Berlin Academy exhibition of 1810, hung alongside its companion piece, \u003cem\u003eThe Abbey in the Oakwood\u003c\/em\u003e. Visitors were bewildered: no ships, no anecdote, no reassuring foreground, just emptiness. Yet the King of Prussia bought both paintings at the request of his fifteen-year-old son, the future Frederick William IV, and Friedrich was elected a member of the Academy that same year. The writer Heinrich von Kleist published a famous response in which he compared looking at the canvas to having your eyelids cut away, so total is the exposure to the void.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat Friedrich chose to erase\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTechnical examinations have revealed that Friedrich originally painted sailing ships on the sea, then covered them over. A restoration carried out in the mid-2010s removed the old yellowed varnish and revealed the cool blues of the sky and the white sand Friedrich intended: this print reproduces the painting as it appears today. Removing the ships was a deliberate choice: the composition is reduced to three horizontal bands of earth, water and sky, with nothing to measure the scale except the lone figure. Many see in the monk a stand-in for the artist himself, and for every viewer who has ever stood on a shore and felt very small.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy it works so well on a wall\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo centuries later, this painting reads almost like a modern abstract work. Its wide horizontal format and quiet palette of sky blue, slate, mist grey, ink black and sandy white make it a natural fit above a sofa, a bed or a desk. It brings calm and depth to minimalist, Scandinavian or Japandi interiors, and pairs beautifully with light wood, linen, stone and charcoal tones. A thin black or natural oak frame keeps the focus on the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eArtist:\u003c\/strong\u003e Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOriginal title:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eDer Mönch am Meer\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDate:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1808–1810\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMedium:\u003c\/strong\u003e Oil on canvas, 110 × 171.5 cm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCollection:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMovement:\u003c\/strong\u003e German Romanticism\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c!-- Lien interne à adapter : collection maîtres \/ romantisme --\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDiscover more masterpieces in our \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/wallango.com\/collections\/romantic-art\"\u003eOld Masters collection\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wallango","offers":[{"title":"A4","offer_id":54815977341251,"sku":"P6868S","price":43.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x18 inches","offer_id":54815977374019,"sku":"P6869S","price":52.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"20x30 inches","offer_id":54815977406787,"sku":"P6870S","price":77.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24x36 inches","offer_id":54815977439555,"sku":"P6871S","price":94.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"27x40 inches","offer_id":54815977472323,"sku":"P6872S","price":103.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"40x60 cm","offer_id":54815977505091,"sku":"P6873S","price":60.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70 cm","offer_id":54815977537859,"sku":"P6874S","price":69.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"60x90 cm","offer_id":54815977570627,"sku":"P6875S","price":94.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100 cm","offer_id":54815977603395,"sku":"P6876S","price":103.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3","offer_id":54815977636163,"sku":"P6877S","price":52.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2","offer_id":54815977668931,"sku":"P6878S","price":60.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1","offer_id":54815977701699,"sku":"P6879S","price":86.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0","offer_id":54815977734467,"sku":"P6880S","price":120.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/3810\/2851\/files\/TheMonkbytheSea_CasparDavidFriedrichMockupwallango_posterseul.jpg?v=1789555884","url":"https:\/\/wallango.com\/en-ca\/products\/the-monk-by-the-sea-caspar-david-friedrich","provider":"Wallango ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}