Rügen Landscape with Vilm Island

The bleak, isolated Baltic island of Rügen became a place of frequent pilgrimage for Friedrich and other Romantic artists. This subtle wash drawing of rolling hills and cliffs receding toward the sea demonstrates how the island landscape led him to abandon traditional ways of composing landscapes in favor of scenes evoking infinite space. Although the elements of the scene--woods, a cottage, a blasted tree, and a shepherd tending his flock--are depicted in detail, they are dwarfed by the open sky. The drawing relates to a lost painting, Landscape with a Rainbow (1810), which was inspired by Goethe's poem Schäfers Klagelied (The Shepherd's Lament). -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"