Friedrich, Abbey among Oak Trees

Caspar David Friedrich, Abbey among Oak Trees, 1809 or 1810, oil on canvas, 110.4 x 171 cm (Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

[@jmpl1672]

Gloomy structure , powerful representation of time , You even get a sense of the crisp clean cold air , this is truly a masterpiece.

[@westleyphilip814]

instablaster...

[@zohrehzand1300]

Somehow the one broken circle in the 'window' seems to mimic the moon/crescent. I like this painting very much even though I had not seen it before. Thank you for choosing this and for your information. Love your clips.

[@paulmitu6410]

I'm hooked on this channel fr

[@Sasha0927]

I chose this one today because I had a really vivid nightmare last night that also creeped me out - more prepared for it. 🤭 What a pretty lady at the beginning of the video! I love her curls and style! When was the last time I saw anyone wearing stockings?! Go figure the "Monk by the Sea" was my other choice that I was drawn to for today.. Guess that can be tomorrow's, but I wouldn't have guessed they were a pair. Between the funeral, the ruins, the sunset, and the winter... everything is death. I've never seen a theme so thoroughly carried out in one piece like this. I think even the phase of the moon might.... Wow. As soon as I started typing this, Dr. Zucker stole my thunder! I felt clever and observant for a second! 😂 "You mentioned that it's the dead of winter, but spring will come." 🔥🔥 You better preach, Dr. Zucker! lol. I know it wasn't meant like that, but that's how it felt to me. I had too much unexpected fun with this one. Who knew something so dreary-looking could feel so good? I so appreciate how Friedrich found a meaningful way, suitable to his time, for expressing long-explored ideas.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Such a great painting, someday we will get back to Berlin so we can take better photos.

[@Sasha0927]

@@smarthistory-art-history Oof, definitely take me with you. They love chocolate over there. 🤭❤️

[@smaakjeks]

Wow, stunning painting!

[@jonmarrow4118]

This channel is so awesome.

[@deanrysewyk2846]

No not just a painting, your looking at art.

[@maheshgavaskar8093]

No winter lasts forever, no spring skips it's turn

[@michaeldemarco8824]

I've got a problem with the interpretation of the oak trees as being older than the ruins. The trees are positioned such that there is no way they were there at the time the abbey was in its hey day. To me the trees are younger than the ruin, and are there to show just how long ago the abbey was abandoned. I interpret the painting as to praise the resilience of man, rather than to despair his transience, for he continues with his traditions long after the pertinent institutions have fallen. The hearts of these worshipers cannot be doubted, for the custom, the fashion, the societal pressure to engage in this ceremonial burial faded long ago.

[@warrenwilson4818]

Excellent observation about the relative ages. One minor astronomical point: the moon has just been a "new moon" and will grow "larger" each night. I always enjoy art commentary. My life was changed many years ago when I had the opportunity to attend an art appreciation class at Rutgers Univ. (NJ.) I didn't do very well, but something was planted deep inside that has never withered. (When does a painting or a building, for that matter, become "art"?)

[@peterfordyce7003]

I think it is possible the trees predate the construction of the abbey. It looks to me like there are some remnants of vaulting on either side of the window, implying that we are looking at what was the inside wall of the abbey, therefore, as the trees are beyond this wall the trees were growing just outside the walls.

[@bobbyforce1957]

Perhaps, maybe

[@alftupper8046]

Actually that is a waxing crescent, on its way to a full rather than new moon.

[@Redroem]

I thought this painting was destroyed during WWll?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

It was not destroyed.

[@214GNR]

babe with nice leg!!! good artwork though...

[@TheBrixMix]

its a fucking painting....

[@ohhello2526]

TheBrixMix yeah that’s the point

[@mariahajdnfj3141]

Why are you here if you're not interested in the interpretation of the painting?

[@kiukiura]

So??