The Gateway in Meissen, this small painting, has a rather sombre, almost despondent mood. From a gloomy dungeon, we look through a half-ruined doorway to an anteroom. Although this is in daylight, the window to the outside world is barred. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, when this painting came into the hands of the Berlin publisher Georg Andreas Reimer, a friend of Friedrich’s, it bore another title: The Prison.
The gloomy atmosphere is characteristic of Friedrich’s works in the mid-1820s. At that time, he increasingly suffered from depression, yet this painting also expresses his fear of political persecution. And he had good reasons to be worried. As early as 1814, Friedrich wrote a letter to the journalist and historian Ernst Moritz Arndt voicing his anti-feudal views and describing the Germans as “the lowly servants of princes”.
Friedrich had hoped the wars against Napoleon would bring more liberal rights, but after victory over the French troops, the old feudal rulers reclaimed their positions of power. And what was even worse, a few years later they launched a wave of ruthless persecutions against political activists and thinkers advocating liberal ideas.
Unfortunately, the security agencies came across Friedrich’s letter at Arndt’s home. They smelt blood and set out to find other incriminating material. Soon other friends of Friedrich’s, including Reimer, were subject to house searches and interrogations. The noose seemed to be gradually tightening. This painting suggests that Friedrich reckoned with the worst. Ultimately, though, no other moves were made against him, and he was left in peace.
- Material & Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Museum
- Galerie Neue Meister
- Dating
- 1827
- Inventory number
- Inv.-Nr. 86/13