The beauty of nature and human loneliness are dominant themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840). He often positions a small human figure within a vast landscape, as in his famous paintings Monk by the Sea and Wanderer above the Sea of ​​Fog . For a long time, the importance and influence of this great Romantic artist were underestimated. By his death, Friedrich had already been forgotten by his contemporaries; he was not rediscovered until the early 20th century. Today, he is considered the most important German painter of his generation and a forerunner of the Expressionists.

Friedrich once advised a fellow artist trapped by academic rules to take the following approach: "Close your physical eye so that you first see your picture with your mind's eye. Then bring to light what you have seen in the dark, so that it reflects on others from the outside in." In other words, concentration instead of imitation, essence instead of brushwork.