Caspar David Friedrich Quotes
You call me a misanthrope because I avoid society. You err; I love society. Yet in order not to hate people, I must avoid their company.
All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it.
The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him.
The eye and fantasy feel more attracted by nebulous distance than by that which is close and distinct in front of us.
I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am.
Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first with the eye of the spirit. Then bring to light what you have seen in the darkness, that its effect may work back, from without to within.
The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art.
A painting which does not take its inspiration from the heart is nothing more than futile juggling.
I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full.
Just as the pious man prays without speaking a word and the Almighty hearkens unto him, so the artist with true feelings paints and the sensitive man understands and recognizes it.
The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand; there I represented it in the reeds.
