The Abbey in the Oakwood

The Abbey in the Oakwood is a painting by the German artist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) that was made around 1809 to 1810.

The artwork presents a gloomy scene cast in darkness. The features of the landscape are barely perceivable. Dark trees arise from the black ground. In the center we can see the ruins of an abbey, with only a single window remaining of the once great edifice. On the ground, there are gravestones littered about.

Everything about the painting screams dead and forgotten. There is no life about this place, it is lost to the human world and now stands as a relic of an age passed by. Only remnants of it remain, and even those are sliding back into the night.

This artwork is a great example of the Romantic art genre and its obsession with the medieval world. The age of Enlightenment optimism is over, the bright and shiny future came to nought. All that is left is to stare into the night as all our glory passes away.