Revered by Hitler, this painter fell out of favor. Now the art world is taking notice again

When Caspar David Friedrich died in 1840, he was almost forgotten by the art world. As his 250th birthday approaches, his reputation is reaching new heights.

(CNN) — When Caspar David Friedrich died in poverty in 1840, he was almost forgotten by the contemporary art world. As his 250th birthday approaches, his reputation is reaching new heights — and the anniversary year is likely to propel it into the stratosphere. Three major exhibitions are planned in Germany this year. Hamburg’s Kunsthalle got in early, its show dedicated to the German Romantic artist opening in December, focusing on his new vision of man’s relationship with nature and featuring his best-known work, “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (around 1817). Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie opens its show on April 19, and Dresden’s Albertinum and Kupferstich-Kabinett will follow in August. Exhibitions are also planned in smaller cities such as Weimar and Greifswald, Friedrich’s birthplace in the country’s far north-east. The Berlin exhibition, “Caspar David Friedrich: Infinite Landscapes,” will examine the Nationalgalerie’s role in rediscovering the artist at the beginning of the 20th century. During his lifetime, Berlin was central to Friedrich’s success — more so than Dresden, where he lived for 40 years, according to Birgit Verwiebe, a Friedrich scholar and the curator of the Berlin exhibition. Friedrich’s landscapes were exhibited many times at the Berlin Academy between 1810 and 1834 and were admired by the Romantic poet Clemens Brentano, the playwright Heinrich von Kleist and, most importantly, by the crown prince, who later became Frederick William IV and was known as the “Romanticist on the throne.” He persuaded his father, Frederick William III, to buy several important Friedrich works in the early 19th century, among them “The Monk by the Sea” — a panoramic sweep of beach and ocean with a tiny dark figure at the center facing the white-tipped waves — and “The Abbey in the Oakwood,” depicting a Gothic ruin surrounded by gravestones and twisted bare trees. Thanks to the royal purchases, Berlin has one of the most significant collections of Friedrich works in the world. From Berlin, he conquered Russia; the crown prince’s sister Charlotte, who was also a fervent admirer, later became Empress consort in Russia when her husband was crowned Tsar Nicholas I in 1825. She persuaded the tsar to purchase Friedrich’s works, and nine paintings remain in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The German museums were in discussion about loans from Russia before February 2020, Verwiebe says. But since the invasion of Ukraine, after which international museums severed ties with Russia, this became out of the question.