2024 marks the 250th anniversary of Caspar David Friedrich’s birth. His international fame was determined to a great extent by three major retrospective exhibitions, held in London, Hamburg and Dresden in the 1970s. This book examines their role for the artist’s reception and for the shaping of ‘Romanticism’ as a cultural concept, as well as describing them within the broader political contexts of their time. In addition, it presents archive material that has received little or no attention within the existing research on Friedrich and his artistic œuvre. The book argues that exhibitions – being shaped by complex negotiation processes – are a medium that should be included in a critical history of knowledge.

Look Inside