Contemplating the uncertain future

Caspar David Friedrich was one of the most important painters of the German Romantic movement. He and his contemporaries worked during a period of intense social, political, and philosophical upheaval during the early decades of the 19th century. Friedrich himself was primarily a landscape painter; his canvases are an extended reflection on humanity’s changing place in the world of nature, and although the Romantic movement is often caricatured as one of excessive sentiment and emotional abandon, Friedrich’s view of the world is one of sober-minded calm, refracted through his intensely personal subjective vision.

Friedrich’s parents raised him in the tenets of their strict Lutheranism, and he never departed from that faith despite suffering occasional bouts of depression. Christian iconography has a prominent place in his art: Many of his paintings feature overt religious themes, including several of churches and isolated shrines in the mountains. A favorite motif of his is a cross situated atop a high peak. In other paintings, Friedrich’s faith is veiled; his many paintings of landscapes with only a few small human figures situated in the distance are at times profoundly ambiguous. Art historians continue to debate the role of faith in Friedrich’s art; some believe that his landscapes express the feeling that God is distant and unknowable, but others, including Christian historian James Romaine, have convincingly argued the opposite. Friedrich’s paintings are designed to motivate a deeper faith in the viewer: The artist himself stated that God could be understood in nature through “sacred intuition, to be seen and recognized only in belief.”

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog is one such picture; its message can be interpreted as one of trust in the God who providentially orders the events of the future. The central figure—the man with his back turned—is called a Rückenfigur in art history. It has been used for centuries as a device to include the viewer in the action of the painting. Friedrich deploys the Rückenfigur frequently in his art. The figure becomes a stand-in for the viewer as we gaze at the scene spread below; the painter invites us to share in the contemplation of what lies before us.

Many of the German Romantics were very suspicious of the advances of modernity brought about by the Industrial Revolution. They could see the effects of the technological and social changes which had been occurring in England; and those changes began to be felt in Germany at the time Friedrich painted this picture. The Romantics, Friedrich included, expressed ambivalence toward the rapidly changing world. Friedrich’s wanderer, perched above a vast, tumultuous, ill-defined landscape, reflects the artist’s own relationship toward the new world of urbanization, social change, and technological advancement. But Friedrich doesn’t explicitly condemn these advances in his painting—he is concerned but he is not hopeless, because he knows the God who holds all things in His hand.

What does Friedrich’s wanderer see? The murky, foggy landscape before him (and us) evokes the uncertainty often felt when we contemplate the future. No one can be sure what will happen; we can glimpse hints and possibilities, just like we can see mountains looming out of Friedrich’s fog. But we can never be certain of what the future will bring.

For the Christian, this uncertainty about the future does not need to be a cause for alarm. The Bible has many passages which assure the believer that God is in control of future events and that He is personally invested in bringing about good in this world. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” A similar view is expressed in Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Friedrich maintains this hopeful attitude toward the future. His wanderer is not repulsed or horrified by what he sees: He is able to calmly reflect on a future that does not make him afraid, despite the turmoil present in Friedrich’s time. Neither should our own future distress us, since we know that the God who loves us works it for our good.