The Moody Landscape
The Moody Landscape
Exploring three different examples of the 'Moody Lanscape' by Oehme, Friedrich and Sedlacek
(Procession in the Fog, Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, 1828)
A landscape is a glimpse into a possible world. In the art of the 19th century, central European romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich, Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, and many others, provide a glimpse into a dramatised world of their creation. The landscape serves as a platform for artists to elevate elements taken from the real landscape into a fantasy world. A world in which much is left unknown, but they tend to leave just enough clues that allow us to speculate and imagine what that world, if we were to step into that painting, would be like.
Let's start by exploring the great masterpiece, “Procession in the Fog”. First, let's consider the clues it offers about its world: We are set in a lush environment filled with grass and bushes. Some trees are also visible in the background. The sky is covered with a thick layer of fog. In the centre, we have a long line of monks walking into the abyss. On the right, we have a shrine covered with Christian motifs. This, along with observing their clothing, allows us to safely assume that those men and possibly women are indeed Christian monks.
If we zoom in, we can also see a cross held by this long line of monks. Where are they headed? There are no hints to help us answer that question. The mist is the essential characteristic that makes this painting so mysterious. Upon closer inspection, we can see that this line crossed over the little bridge and that little creek not long ago. Perhaps they came from a monastery. Could they be heading to the cemetery? Is this a funeral scene?
The grey that the artist used for this scene is rather blueish, if not even purplish. And that contrasts very strongly with the green of the ground. The combination of green and purple is famously known to cause discomfort and possibly disgust. Perhaps this is another motif the painter wanted to add to the overall sense of mystique.
As someone raised in the Jewish Orthodox tradition, I'm exploring Christian symbolism with relatively fresh eyes. If you have any further insights, please share them in the comments.
(The Abbey in the Oakwood, Caspar David Friedrich, 1810)
When writing about “Procession in the Fog”, I couldn’t help but think of the famous “The Abbey in the Oakwood” by Caspar David Friedrich. Both are dark, gloomy portrayals of monks surrounded by nature and fog. The difference is that the symbolism that Freidrich used was much more conclusive. We can indeed see a cemetery, and the charcoal colours that almost become completely black on the edges are clear symbols of death.
Nevertheless, both paintings take us to a different, mysterious, and unhappy world where dark colours are supreme. Only faceless monks are the figures inhabiting these worlds. When I attempt to listen to these paintings in my imagination, I can only hear the wind; there isn’t any chatter or music. It is a cold world filled with dark mist and death.
Perhaps those are scenes from the Dark Ages, from humanity’s lowest point when religion completely controlled all aspects of life. Perhaps those are scenes from a post-apocalyptic future. I can imagine quite an intriguing setting for a new Netflix show based in this world. It also reminds me of scenes from Ayn Rand’s “Anthem”, in which she portrayed a dark dystopia where humanity has disintegrated back into the Dark Ages and even beyond that.
(Mountain Landscape with Automobile, Franz Sedlacek, 1931)
Let us conclude with a modern painting by Franz Sedlacek that follows that same tradition. Sedlacek was a part of the so-called “New Objectivity” movement, which was an interesting modern art movement that deserves its own article. Like most modern art, it’s very philosophically mixed, but the commitment of those artists to portray reality regardless of how distorted and disfigured their reality was is a point in their favour.
Sedlacek also incorporated surrealist elements in his art; I highly recommend checking out some of his works. This is my favourite painting of his, which I encountered in the Albertina Museum in Vienna.
Like the previous two paintings, this one features a moody landscape with bare trees. The palette is closer to that of “The Abbey in the Oakwood” than that of “Procession in the Fog”. The colour scheme is based on yellow and charcoal, which conveys a sense of otherworldliness.
This isn’t our world; the mountains and the details around them also hint at that. The shape of the mountain is very sharp—indeed, it’s too sharp to resemble any particular mountain. There is mist below the mountains, much like in “The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”. Also, there is a waterfall on the left, but the water seems to blend precisely into the mist, giving the impression that this is, in fact, a “mist fall.”
Compositionally, the trees are quite interesting. Each tree is placed at a different angle, pointing towards a point of interest. This creates a central oval shape surrounding the car, the road, and the big mountain (see the arrows I’ve added). This is a very original twist on the landscape format established by Friedrich and his contemporaries.
The inclusion of a car is, by itself, a very cool detail. I couldn’t find any reference to a driver, which is rather interesting, given that this looks like a convertible, so the driver should have been visible from that angle. Having a lone car wandering around nature is very clever because the car is a manmade object; thus, a similar commentary about man’s relationship with nature could be made using the car. Such commentary is a central theme that the landscape art of Friedrich and his contemporaries often addressed.
These were only three different variations of the moody landscape theme. The first example shows us a mysterious world where we have little to work with except those monks and their environment. In the second example, the theme of death is clearer; thus, the atmosphere is much darker. Finally, in the modern version, we have a fantasy world where a lonely driverless car travels across mountains, waterfalls, and bridges, surrounded by mist and golden shades.
Which one was your favourite? Do you have other examples of moody landscapes that you like? Let me know in the comments below.
To read more on landscapes, click here.
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