Focus on The Abbey in the Oakwood and analyze the Description.
This large painting is an example of a way Friedrich uses his painting skills to represent human life issues. In the painting, Friedrich painted an old abbey in the center. There are figures entering the abbey with a coffin. The artist is trying to convey a sense of passage of time by painting a human passing away. There is a sense of coldness around the area. The remains of the abbey show a broken window with no remaining glass. What is seen is that nature is there forever, while man's creation is temporary. A procession of monks, some of whom bear a coffin, head toward the gate of a ruined Gothic church in the center of the painting. Only two candles light their way. A newly dug grave yawns out of the snow in the foreground, near which several crosses can be faintly discerned. This lower third of the picture lies in darkness—only the highest part of the ruins and the tips of the leafless oaks are lit by the setting sun. The waxing crescent moon appears in the sky.
Gothic