Desolation and Mystery
"Symmetry encapsulates the idea of beauty and perfection." |
© 2000 Directmedia Publishing GmbH
by Lin Qinghui
The background to Caspar David Friedrich's The Cross and Cathedral in the Mountains shows a cathedral rising into the sky, surrounded by tall trees on all sides. As it reaches the sky, the top of the cathedral gets progressively fainter, and the details become harder to make out. Overall, the impression is similar to that of a tall building rising into a haze. One cannot help but notice the symmetry displayed in the background. The placement of the trees and the facade of the cathedral itself are all symmetrical, and this symmetry becomes more noticeable when one compares it with the asymmetrical nature of the foreground.
Directly in front of the cathedral in the foreground is a cross with the figure of Christ on it. The cross is wedged upright between two rocks, and directly below the cross flows a small stream of water, which forms a small pool at the base of the cross. A thorn bush grows at the base of the cross as well. The rest of the foreground gives the impression of desolation and harshness that one typically associates with a wasteland: the only type of vegetation seen is moss growing on the rocks beside the small rock pool at the base of the cross. The use of dark tones gives the painting a somber mood, and the harshness of the foreground exacerbates this mood and turns it into desolation.
As one examines the painting further, one cannot help but wonder why the cross is placed where it is. Clearly, the cross is the key to understanding the painting, for the cross is placed at the vanishing point of the painting. By placing it there, it is thus surrounded by all other elements (cathedral, rock pool, rocks of the harsh landscape) of the painting, thereby making it the heart and centre of everything. In this paper, I will argue that Friedrich placed the cross where it is to send an evangelistic message, a message that preaches the Christian belief that Christ is the only way for salvation and eternal happiness in paradise. As I will show in my analysis, each of the elements in the painting represents a concept or idea, and through a spatial arrangement of these elements in the painting, Friedrich has succeeded in placing a message on the canvas.
The cathedral in this painting is a symbol of Christianity as a religion. The cathedral is a grand building built to evoke a sense of awe and humility in the devotees that go into the cathedral to pray. The building is symmetrical, and the painter goes to the length of painting details like glass panels, arches, buttresses and tiny crosses on the top spires in a symmetrical manner. As the cathedral rises into the sky it breaks through the cloud layer, giving the impression noted earlier that it is rising into a morning mist or haze. The image of a grand building of faith rising high into the sky, so high that the morning mist obscures the top, gives the cathedral a sense of "greatness" and mystery. Tall trees arranged symmetrically are placed around the cathedral. The significance of the tall trees is better seen when one compares them with the thorn bushes in the foreground. The tall trees hence become a symbol of life and fertility when compared with the harsh landscape of the foreground. Symmetry encapsulates the idea of beauty and perfection, and looking at the background in this context with the cathedral, a symbol of religion, painted to inspire awe, we see that the background is actually a representation of the Christian idea of heaven or paradise. The tall trees, symbols of life and fertility, strengthen this assertion. The foreground is the direct opposite of the background, depicting a harsh wilderness or wasteland, with no life except mosses and thorn bushes. Thus, we can see that the perfection and life of paradise shown in the background is the opposite of the imperfection and harshness of the earthly realm, represented in the foreground. The tall trees can also be seen as boundaries between heaven and the earthly realm, and by surrounding the cathedral, they separate heaven and earth and make heaven inaccessible to those from the earthly realm.
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