A tiny figure in a dark robe stands on a pale dune before a black sea and a sky that fills three-quarters of the canvas. There is no framing tree, no boat, no path into the picture. Shown at the Berlin Academy in 1810 beside The Abbey in the Oakwood, it unsettled critics, and King Frederick William III bought both paintings.
Look closer
The small white flecks on the dark water are breaking waves, often mistaken for seagulls. Scientific study found that Friedrich painted two sailing ships on the horizon, then removed them.
Looks like this
Compared by a vision model
