The Dreamer sits on a window ledge of a ruin.  He is not inside the ruin nor is he outside the ruin.  Inside the ruin are dead trees, while outside life thrives.  The dreamer looks sideways, neither out of the ruin nor into the ruin.  Is this not true of a dreamer, of someone who lives half in the metaphysical realm and half in the physical world.  It is a delicate balance.

Morning in the Mountains, completed in 1821-1823, speaks of a misty, grand expanse.

In The Giant Mountains, 1835, Friedrich uses the mist in the mountains to separate the mountains and fall into the river that weaves a winding path through the scene.

Sunset (Brothers), a physically tiny piece that is powerful on a sensory and psychological level.  The landscape is simple in detail, yet has an amazing light created by reflection off of water.

Seashore (Nets) has a warm, glowing horizon line that draws the viewer into the lonely scene void of humans.  The scene is quiet, created with subdued, complimentary purple and yellow.  Birds create slight movement toward the sun or moon in the sky.

A mist creates a different kind of depth in Night in Harbour (Sisters).  A church and the masts of boats is all we see.  Why is there a Jewish star at the top?

Moonrise over the sea was completed in 1821, and presents a beautiful, yet contemplative scene.  I noticed several triangles in the scene.  There is a triangle where the points include the large anchors in the front, the two women sitting on a rock, and the two men standing on a rock further into the sea.  There is also a triangle between the moon, the anchors, and the men, or the moon, men, and women.  I point out those physical triangles to set the stage to point out the triangle that I think is most important.  That is, the triangle between the one viewing the picture, in this case me, the people in the image, and the moon.  The contemplation of the ones in the picture is echoed by me as I look at the painting.

Sunset (Brothers) is a tiny painting compared to some of the larger ones in the room, yet it has a great presence.  The landscape is simple with a warm glow of dusk.  The water reflects this fading light.

On a Sailing Ship is full of youthful love.  This painting was done in 1818 and 1821.  A couple clasps hands as they peer off the bow of a ship at a distant city or port.  Is the sky golden with the morning light of their relationship?  This painting is said to be completed after Friedrich returned from his honeymoon.  Unlike a number of paintings by Friedrich, where the human figures seem alone in the presence of others, this couple appears connected in their thoughts.  The couple are linked to each other, and they are related with their surroundings.

Swans was painted before 1832 and depicts two swans encased in foliage.  There is a sliver of moon sending out light into the scene. Why swans?  Perhaps because they are known for forming ties and staying with one partner for life.

Reflections, time, and speed are ideas that I am interested in that are elements in this photograph.  I saw the idea behind this image on my first day in the Netherlands last autumn.  I decided to attempt to capture this photograph the next time I saw it.  A few days later, I spent time waiting, watching, and shooting before events fell into place in order to obtain this result.  It is a picture of a young woman standing in front of a tram.  The tram passes by and she waits.  Perhaps the image would be better technically if someone had posed standing absolutely still, but this is a slice of busy life in a city.  This is life as it happens.

Here are 7 of the 18 Points of Interest:

De Roosdonck windmill pictured in seven drawings.

Van Gogh monument erected in 1932 by Hildo Krop.

Van Gogh’s parents’ house , called the Van Goghhouse, where Vincent lived for a while.

Van Gogh had a studio in the shed at the back of the house.

Van Gogh statue built in 1984 by Klaas van Rosmalen who wanted to show what Van Gogh might have looked like as he walked around with his sketch kit.

Clemenschurch, a church that appears in drawings and in the painting “Populierenlaan te Nuenen”

Protestant Church where Vincent’s father was the vicar. It was also a subject that Vincent sketched and painted.

Collse Watermolen was painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1884

I pointed my camera to the ceiling of Sint Jan Cathedral (Saint John) to get a detail shot of a rib vault.  A man approached me and began to talk about the ceiling, first in Dutch and then in English.  The man, J. Dirks, had done extensive sketches and research on the older ceiling paintings from the 1500s.  The older paintings had been covered with white paint during the reformation and then in the 1800s someone had painted a vine design over the white paint.
In broken English, he showed me where to point my camera to find the people and animals that had been revealed through restoration to once again look down upon the parishioners  and tourists below.  He allowed me to look at his drawings, photographs, and notes he had on the subject.  He was very kind and spent time showing me the ceiling in the nave and one of the wings.  He discussed the history, how part of the ceiling had burnt down and therefore had none of the paintings from the 16th century.  Due to the curvature of the ceiling we had to walk to different parts of the chapel in order to see the different designs.  I had to hold the camera very still and try to rest it on the pews in order to get a discernible picture of the far off images in the dim church.  For someone who is willing to look, there are secrets in the ceiling of the Sint Jan church in ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.

Of the older paintings in the Noordbrandts collection, several contained buildings that were cut in half resulting in the interior of the building being exposed.  This technique of displaying the unseen is not as popular in contemporary fine art today.  When I see that type of image I think of cartoons.  But why not leave out a front wall of a building?

One of the artworks in the museum that I particularly became interested in was Interior van een kerk (Interior of a church) by Pieter Neeffs de Oude, completed between 1635-1645.  The walls of the church lead the eye up the painting.  The artist used the light to lead the viewer’s eye to the priest, the candles, and a painting.  It has a simple beauty to it, yet it portrays the whitewashed church after reformers had cleansed it of iconography.  The artist and historian in me cries out at the damage to the art and artifacts.
Later I went to see the Bosch cathedral Sint Jan which was whitewashed at one time.  The ceiling has been restored to some extant and one can see the designs on it that were original.

*I am using the word authentic and not the word accurate.

While in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany another more contemporary crucifixion and rather graphic image by Lovis Corinth, captured my attention.  His work is entitled The Red Christ and was completed in 1922.  This Christ has depleted outstretched limbs complimented with thick red blood.  The support is covered with swirling areas of color and large areas of paint.  Out of this mess is an experience of the horrific moment that Christ was stuck with a spear.  A crowd is depicted around the cross, with all but one or two figures indistinguishable.  Out of the works in this post, this piece, best depicts the horrific nature of the death on the cross.

These are four different scenes of the same story.  The paintings were done in four different centuries over five hundred years.  Style changed.  The message had different emphasis, but the story is the same.