An extraordinary exhibition has opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature” (through May 11, 2025). It offers the rare opportunity to see a symphonic assemblage of more than 75 paintings and drawings by the German Romantic artist in the United States. Masterworks that have never traveled before to the country, such as “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and “Monk by the Sea,” are juxtaposed with all five of the Friedrich paintings in American museum collections.
The occasion of the exhibition is the artist’s 250th birthday. Celebrations began in Germany in 2023 and 2024, with shows at the Alte Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Hamburger Kunsthalle, which have impressive holdings of Friedrich’s work. Now, some of the highlights of these museums have traveled to the Met for this first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the artist in the United States.
