What year was Caspar David Friedrich born?

Caspar David Friedrich was born in 1774, specifically on 5 September, in Greifswald, Swedish Pomerania.

Friedrich became the leading landscape painter of German Romanticism. His scenes often place small, contemplative figures before vast mountains, seas, ruins or mist-filled skies. Nature in his work is not merely scenery: it becomes a setting for spiritual reflection, mortality and the limits of human knowledge.

He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1794 to 1798 before settling in Dresden. His Baltic upbringing, Lutheran background and familiarity with loss helped shape the solemn mood associated with his landscapes. Among his best-known works are “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and “The Monk by the Sea.”

Friedrich’s reputation declined late in his life, and he died in Dresden in 1840. Interest revived strongly in the twentieth century, securing his place as one of the defining artists of Romanticism. His birth year is sometimes confused with dates associated with his major paintings, but 1774 is the year of his birth.