The Woman with the Spider Web between Bare Trees

About this artwork

For Friedrich, landscape was the expression of spirituality and a personal connection with God. By isolating individual objects in this composition and rendering them in specific detail, such as the tree, spider web, and thistles, Friedrich gave them a heightened clarity that destabilizes the familiar and suggests a hidden, sacred significance within organic forms. The viewer’s dilemma—deciding upon the meaning and significance of the scene—is echoed by the woman herself who gazes toward the eve...