Magic of Silence: Caspar David Friedrich's Journey Through Time

Two hundred fifty years of German history—from 1774 to the present day—unfold through the landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich, the most German of artists who revealed to the whole world the romantic longing of the spirit. For example, Goethe was so irritated by this particular melancholy that he split one of the paintings on a table. And Disney’s works inspired by Friedrich were so influential that they became the basis and background for the famous cartoon “Bambi.” Finding fans among notable authors of the early 20th century and revered by the Nazis, hated by the generation of 1968 and despised by his contemporaries, Caspar David Friedrich is as contradictory as the paintings he created. Florian Illies continues the tradition set by his previous works and leads readers through the back alleys of history—colliding eras and personalities, the outward chronicle and private life—in order to craft a portrait of an artist traveling through times and epochs.