German Romantic Painter. He is considered by many art historians as one of the greatest landscape painter of all time. He was born in Griefswald, a small town in northeastern Germany along the Baltic coast. He studied art at the Academy in Copenhagen from 1794-98 and later settled in Dresden for the remainder of his quiet life. Friedrich began his work as an artist by doing topographical drawings in pencil before taking up oil painting in 1807. Some of his most well-known paintings are expressions of religious mysticism and in 1808 he exhibited one of his most controversial paintings “The Cross in the Mountains” at the Gemaldegalerie in Dresden. A great number of his paintings, even those of simple landscapes contain inner meanings and the clues of which are provided in his writings or those of his literary friends. Friedrich was an intensely introspective and often melancholic person and often relied on deep inner searching to provide him with the mental images he would transfer to canvas. In 1835 Friedrich suffered a severe stroke, which left him with limited mobility. His work was all but forgotten at the time of his death but then revived at the end of the 19th century with the rise of Symbolism. Most of his work still remains in Germany. He was quoted as saying: “The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him.” (bio by: Tim Pettay)