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The Abbey in the Oakwood
Caspar David Friedrich · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)
- Date
- 1809–1810
- Dimensions
- 110.4 x 171 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
The Abbey in the Oakwood shows the ruined Gothic façade of a church rising among bare, twisted oak trees in a snowy cemetery at dusk. A small procession of monks carries a coffin through the gateway.
A closer look
The lower part of the painting is plunged in darkness, while the sky above glows with a cold, pale light. The ruin, the leafless trees, the tilted gravestones and the tiny figures of the monks all speak of death, transience and mourning, but the brightening sky suggests hope beyond the grave. Friedrich painted it as a pair with The Monk by the Sea; both were bought by the Prussian royal family after an exhibition in Berlin, making his reputation.
