FRIEDRICH, Caspar David
(b. 1774, Greifswald, d. 1840, Dresden)

Wreck in the Moonlight

c. 1835
Oil on canvas, 31,3 x 42,5 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Friedrich's last oil paintings such as the Wreck in the Moonlight and The Riesengebirge (both in the Nationalgalerie, Berlin), executed c. 1835 before he suffered a stroke on 26 June 1835 that left him partially paralysed in the arms and legs, around 1835, condense motifs typical of Friedrich into definitive statements which etch themselves indelibly upon the memory with their inner grandeur, their solemnity and their formal sovereignty.