The Woman with the Spider Web between Bare Trees, 1803. For Friedrich, landscape was the expression of spirituality and a personal connection with God. By isolating individual objects in this composition and rendering them in specific detail, such as the tree, spider web, and thistles, Friedrich gave them a heightened clarity that destabilizes the familiar and suggests a hidden, sacred significance within organic forms. The viewer’s dilemma---deciding upon the meaning and significance of the scene---is echoed by the woman herself who gazes toward the vening sky. Her pose and gesture sug
The Woman with the Spider Web between Bare Trees, 1803. For Friedrich, landscape was the expression of spirituality and a personal connection with God. By isolating individual objects in this composition and rendering them in specific detail, such as the tree, spider web, and thistles, Friedrich gave them a heightened clarity that destabilizes the familiar and suggests a hidden, sacred significance within organic forms. The viewer’s dilemma---deciding upon the meaning and significance of the scene---is echoed by the woman herself who gazes toward the vening sky. Her pose and gesture suggest a searching awareness that evokes melancholy and suspended resolution. Surrounding her are symbols of morality in the barren trees, thistles, a caught fly, and the setting sun. In this woodcut, Friedrich depicted for one of the first times a theme that became a leitmotif, what art historians have called "the drama of the self facing the ;
Size: 3161px × 4345px
Photo credit: © Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1774-1840, 19th, art, caspar, century, cleveland, david, early, friedrich, german, germany, heritage, museum, print, woodcut
