Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich

"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" is a painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, created in 1818. It is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Romantic movement and one of its most representative works. The painting has been interpreted as a symbol of self-reflection and contemplation of life's path, with the landscape evoking a sense of the sublime.

In the foreground, a man stands on a rocky precipice with his back to the viewer. He is wrapped in a dark green overcoat and grips a walking stick in his right hand. His hair, caught in the wind, adds to the sense of movement. The wanderer gazes out over a landscape shrouded in a thick sea of fog. In the middle ground, several ridges, similar to the one the wanderer stands on, emerge from the fog. Through the swirling mist, forests atop these escarpments can be discerned. In the distance, mountains rise on the left, gently leveling off into lowland plains on the right. The pervasive fog stretches out indefinitely, eventually blending with the horizon and becoming indistinguishable from the cloud-filled sky.

The painting features various elements from the Elbe Sandstone Mountains in Saxony and Bohemia, which Friedrich sketched in the field and then rearranged in his studio. In the background to the right is the Zirkelstein. The mountain in the background to the left could be either the Rosenberg or the Kaltenberg. The group of rocks in front of it represents the Gamrig near Rathen. The rocks on which the traveler stands are part of the Kaiserkrone group.

Source: Wikipedia