The Watzmann
1824–1825 · Oil on canvas · Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
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About this work
- Artist
- Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)
- Year
- 1824–1825
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 135 × 170 cm
- Collection
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Movement
- Romanticism
The snow-covered summit of the Watzmann, the great peak above Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps, towers over a foreground of boulders, scrubby trees and a tumbling rocky slope. Friedrich never saw the Alps. He built the composition from a watercolour of the summit made on the spot by his pupil August Heinrich, combined with his own studies of granite blocks in the Harz mountains, and painted it in 1824 and 1825, one of his few Alpine subjects. The canvas has a dark later history: its Jewish owner, Martin Brunn, was forced to sell it to the Nationalgalerie in 1937 to fund his family's escape from Germany. In 2003 the museum and Brunn's heirs reached a settlement under which it was restituted and bought by DekaBank, which has placed it in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin on long-term loan since 2004.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A snow-covered Alpine summit above boulders and a rocky slope, a tall mountain picture for a living room, hallway or study at 32×24 in black. A white, pale grey or deep green wall; it suits a mountain home or room with stone.
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1824–1825)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; oak lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Watzmann in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Watzmann painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge-to-edge at its own proportions, filling the whole sheet — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
