Friedrich’s Chalk Cliffs on Rügen, without a doubt one of his major works, is so famous that it is easy to overlook how little reliable information there is about this painting. (1) Not even the year of its origin has been ascertained, although it is often assumed that Friedrich painted it around 1818, just after his wedding to Caroline Bommer. A drawing made in Stralsund on August 6, 1818, may have been the model for the more distant sailboat, (2) so that it is unlikely to have been painted prior to 1818. A later date cannot be ruled out either, however. It may have been the painting in Winterthur that Carl von Voss saw in Friedrich’s studio on July 6, 1822: “Landscape of the Island of Rügen: the foreground a “yawning cleft, behind it blindingly white chalk cliffs with wonderful jagged peaks, above that, as if floating in the air, the infinite distance of the Baltic Sea; a wonderful view specific to this coast.“ (3)

That would describe the painting in Winterthur concisely but aptly, since it unites dramatic elements such as the cleft and the jagged rocks with a fascinating prospect on the expanse of the sea. To achieve this composition, Friedrich combined two views that are in reality separate: the Kleine and Grosse Stubbenkammer on Rügen. For the left cliff wall and the striking spike to the right of center, two study drawings of the Kleine Stubbenkammer have survived, which the artist was able to do in situ on August 11, 1815. (4) Friedrich increased the dimensions of the drawing for the painting to bring out more clearly the effect described by Carl von Voss. Friedrich scholars have discussed various possible identifications of the figures depicted (for example, Caroline and Caspar David Friedrich, and his brother Christian) and have considered the thesis that the painting could refer to the honeymoon journey that took the painter and his wife to Western Pomerania and Rügen in the summer of 1818. All these proposals are, however, limited by the choice to depict the figures from behind or, at most, in lost profile, like the woman. Moreover, their behavior as shown in the painting does not exactly suggest a depiction of a bride and groom. In general, the commonalities of figures are less worked out than their differences, which stand out especially in each one’s approach to nature. Whereas the woman and the clumsily kneeling man have eyes only for the abyss or at most for the grass growing right in front of it, the man standing on the right is looking calmly at the sea. These two very different choices for perception are also offered to the viewers in front of the painting: They too can opt between being drawn into the depths or out into an expansive view. The figures in the painting thus offer an opportunity to reflect on a question that we ourselves are confronted with: the question of where to direct our attention.

By showing us very distinctive perceptions of the chalk cliffs, Friedrich may have been criticizing contemporary images of Rugen such as those popularized in the poems and other writings of Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten or in early travel guides. While these texts on Rügen evoke a terrifying and sublime natural drama, Friedrich’s painting is ultimately dominated by a cheerful atmosphere that finds its true center in the nuanced play of colors of the sea. Both the composition and the characterization of the figure on the right wearing old-fashioned German dress – clothing which had a political connotation – suggest that Friedrich sympathized with the attitude of the man standing.

Johannes Grave, in: exh. cat. Hamburg 2023, p. 204.

(1) For this painting, see Börsch-Supan/Jähnig 1973, pp. 353 f., no. 257; Vignau-Wilberg 1980; Jensen 1995, pp. 182–89; Zschoche 1998, pp. 110–17; Grave 2000; Busch 2003, pp. 110–16; Märker 2007, pp. 124–28; Börsch-Supan 2008, pp. 113–42; Virmond 2015; Amstutz 2020, pp. 62–68 and 152; Busch 2021, pp. 110 f.; Grave 2023, pp. 217–22.
(2) Börsch-Supan/Jähnig 1973, p. 353; Grummt 2011, p. 748, no. 818.
(3) Voss/Voss 1986, p. 145.
(4) Zschoche 1998, pp. 80–88 and 110–17; Busch 2003, pp. 110 f.; Grummt 2011, vol. 2, pp. 682–84, nos. 733–35.