He is the most important artist of German Romanticism and continues to inspire people around the world today: Caspar David Friedrich. Born in Greifswald in 1774, the free spirit and visionary celebrates his 250th birthday in 2024. To mark this special anniversary, the Pomeranian State Museum is dedicating a varied program to him from March to December 2024. Three consecutive special exhibitions will bring together the museum's extensive collection with top-class loans from national and international museums - offering visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in paintings and drawings by this exceptional artist for almost the entire anniversary year. A particular highlight is the iconic masterpiece "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen", which will be on display for the very first time in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In addition to the encounter with the originals, visitors can expect a walk through the entire museum from March 2024 with interactive stages that bring Friedrich's life, work and era to life in an innovative way, and much more ...
Caspar David Friedrich, "Strive for the best friends (...)", 1789, pen and ink on laid paper, Pommersches Landesmuseum
Caspar David Friedrich. Lifelines
A journey in drawings & paintings
With six paintings, more than 60 drawings and prints as well as numerous archival documents and letters, the Pomeranian State Museum has one of the most extensive collections of original material from Caspar David Friedrich's life and work in the world. The special exhibition "Lifelines" presents the museum's extensive holdings almost completely for the first time and brings them into a dialog with treasures such as the baptismal entry from 1774 and additional borrowed works as special "birthday guests" in order to trace Friedrich's path from his first attempts at drawing to his late work as a painter.
April 28 to August 4, 2024
Caspar David Friedrich, Chalk cliffs on Rügen, 1818 © Kunst Museum Winterthur | Reinhart am Stadtgarten
Caspar David Friedrich. Places of longing
Chalk cliffs on Rügen & Greifswald harbor
The anniversary exhibition celebrating Caspar David Friedrich's birthday on September 5 will feature a real star guest: the main work "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen". The world-famous painting, which is now at home in Winterthur, Switzerland, will be exhibited in the Pomeranian State Museum for seven weeks and for the first time ever in Friedrich's home region - a long-awaited meeting of painting and landscape after more than 200 years! In conjunction with other masterpieces by the artist, such as the depictions of the "Greifswald Harbour" and the "Eldena Ruins in the Giant Mountains", the exhibition opens up his "places of longing" in Swedish Pomerania and beyond. It is complemented by a homage to Friedrich by photographer Volkmar Herre, who presents the "chalk cliffs" and their allure in a new light using the camera obscura.
August 18 to October 6, 2024
Caspar David Friedrich, Meadows near Greifswald, 1821/22 © Hamburger Kunsthalle/bpk, Photo: Elke Walford
Caspar David Friedrich. Hometown
Meadows near Greifswald
Caspar David Friedrich remained closely connected to Greifswald, the place of his birth, childhood and youth, throughout his life. One of the most impressive testimonies to this is the painting "Meadows near Greifswald", which is kept in Hamburg. In 2024, the Pomeranian State Museum is bringing the painting back to the Baltic Sea and placing it at the center of the special exhibition, which highlights Friedrich's connection to his "home town" and closes the anniversary year. The presentation is complemented by preparatory drawings, city views by his contemporaries and a spatial collage exploring Friedrich's meadow landscape.
October 16, 2024 to January 5, 2025
250 steps to Caspar David Friedrich
Romantic Trail & Hiking Workshop
Interactive stages
Inspired by Friedrich's walks on Rügen and elsewhere, the Pomeranian State Museum invites visitors to embark on an "art journey on foot" from March of the anniversary year. The specially created walking route leads from the forecourt through the museum to the art - past several interactive stages that encourage a creative examination of Caspar David Friedrich and his time. Along the way, you can discover an installation of the legendary blue flower, a treadmill for your own walks and a time box for the year 1818. In addition, from July 2024, a cabinet exhibition with digital collages by artist Hiroyuki Masuyama will draw a bow to the present and place Friedrich's wanderings in contemporary contexts.
March to December 2024
The exhibitions and accompanying formats in the Pomeranian State Museum are embedded in a wide-ranging cultural and scientific anniversary program of the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald and many participating institutions.
In addition to the exhibitions and festivities in Greifswald, Friedrich will be honored in 2024 with special shows at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, in some of which the Pomeranian State Museum will participate with loans. This will be followed in 2025 by a major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
