The Grosse Gehege near Dresden

This painting, depicting an area of pastureland crossed by tree-lined avenues just outside Dresden, portrayed in masterly fashion from an alienating angle, is an example of Friedrich’s final phase of full mastery. He uses an exquisite palette to evoke a particularly solemn evening mood and thereby lends a rhythmic impulse to the foreground with rivulets of water glinting in the sunset.

With the richness of its palette, the beauty of its composition and its sonorous atmosphere, this impressive painting is a true masterpiece in the history of European landscape painting.