Wanderer Above The Sea (circa 1818) by Caspar David Friedrich

One of the greatest paintings in the history of German art is the Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
by Caspar David Friedrich. The painting depicts a man, facing away from the viewer toward the
foggy precipices before him with cane in hand. The absence of the face, an element which
instantly pulls the viewer in, forces a look toward the man’s surroundings and perhaps his
thoughts. The picture is one of introspection and connection to nature. Friedrich was the
foremost painter of the Romantic movement in what is today Germany.

Though Friedrich painted human beings in a rather humble manner, within larger natural
contexts, the inside of a person’s mind is clearly dominant. One can almost see the painting as a
proto-Jungian analysis of the artist as creative explorer looking forward into the vast
unconscious within him — the connection to the primordial element of nature which
transcends the existence of even the human species. In that sense, the painting is not only an
introspection but an integration of the vastness of nature with civilized modern man.

Another key feature of this painting is solitude in nature. The focus of the image is a single
individual with his back turned to the viewer, alone amongst the rocks. As the viewer, we get a
glimpse of the vast expanse from behind but no signs of humanity (other than the man) are
present.

The painting of the wanderer above the sea of fog is a work of creative exploration and internal
integration, an artistic expression of a higher self — the supreme wisdom of total integration
which forms the basis for real individualism. The fully integrated individual constitutes a higher
man — what Friedrich Nietzsche would later call an übermensch (‘overman,’ ‘superman’) who
is able to transcend his mere humanity.

In this sense, Friedrich’s painting is a case in which the artists truly preceded the philosophers.
That which was articulated brilliantly in Nietzsche’s work was already being explored in paint.
Friedrich was a Romantic, not an existentialist and his metaphysical views differed in key ways
from Nietzsche but both men explored elements of the same general theme — the essence of
what it means to be truly human. What are we left with as viewers of this wanderer above the
sea of fog? An image of man dressed in dark colors, linking him more with the darkly-colored
crags against the backdrop of grays and whites. In short, we are left with an artistically
rendered interpretation of Daoism Yin-Yang symbol — integration of opposites into a balanced
and harmonious whole.