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E – OWL
In fact, in the mid-1830s, a few years before his death, Friedrich created several sepia drawings in which owls play a central role – not because he had turned to animal studies in his late work, but probably because of the symbolic meaning of the nocturnal bird as a harbinger of death and memento mori, but also as a symbol of wisdom. [...] Besides these sepia drawings, there are few works by Friedrich in which a figure directs their gaze intently at someone outside the picture – namely his self-portraits. It seems as if the artist – whom some contemporaries considered an oddball, meaning peculiar – could identify with the owl.
An excerpt from Barbara Hess’ Caspar David Friedrich A–Z
Image credit: Landscape with Grave, Coffin and Owl, c. 1836/37, brush in brown, pencil on wove paper 38.5 x 38.4 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Kupferstichkabinett
Veröffentlicht am:
29.01.2024
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