To mark the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840), the Alte Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, in cooperation with the Kupferstichkabinett, will for the very first time present a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the oeuvre of the most prominent painter of the German Romantic movement. Roughly 60 paintings and 50 drawings from Germany and abroad will be on display, including a number of world-famous, iconic works of art.

An exhibition of this kind is long overdue in Berlin, if only by virtue of the fact that the numerous acquisitions and public exhibitions that occurred in the Prussian capital played a considerable part in fostering the artist's initial renown during his own lifetime, and because the Nationalgalerie houses one of the world’s largest collections of Friedrich’s paintings.

The exhibition’s central theme is the role played by the Nationalgalerie in rediscovering Friedrich’s art at the beginning of the 20th century. After the painter had faded into obscurity during the second half of the 19th century, the Nationalgalerie paid tribute to him in 1906 in its most comprehensive retrospective to date, the legendary Deutsche Jahrhundertausstellung, which included 93 of the artist’s paintings and drawings. Friedrich was lauded as a painter with an extraordinary proficiency for capturing light and atmosphere, and as a pioneer of modern art.

A further chapter of the exhibition is dedicated to Friedrich's pairs of paintings, which the artist used to express a range of different perspectives and the concept of change. Arguably his most famous pair of paintings – Monk by the Sea and Abbey in the Oakwood – exemplifies the unique character of the Nationalgalerie’s collection. A third chapter of the exhibition presents the latest results of research into Friedrich’s painting technique.

In 2024, Caspar David Friedrich’s anniversary year, the Berlin exhibition will form part of a series of thematically distinct exhibitions held at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Alte Nationalgalerie, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The life and impact of the painter will be celebrated in his birth city, Greifswald, in 2024, with a year-round special event programme.

A special exhibition of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin