The Marketplace in Greifswald

This 1818 painting of the marketplace in Greifswald at the Pomeranian State Museum presents the commercial center of Friedrich's birthplace — a topographical subject unusual in his oeuvre, which was dominated by landscapes, coastal scenes, and architectural fragments rather than urban market places. Greifswald held such personal significance that he could approach even its most prosaic commercial spaces with the contemplative intensity he brought to dramatic coastlines and mountain peaks. Friedrich's landscapes were conceived as spiritual exercises; even this urban market scene, with its Brick Gothic architecture and daily commercial life, is rendered with the same careful observation and atmospheric sensitivity he brought to his most overtly symbolic natural subjects. The documentation of Greifswald's Brick Gothic architectural character gives the work historical value alongside its artistic interest.

The marketplace buildings are rendered with careful attention to their Brick Gothic architectural character. Friedrich's treatment gives the urban scene the same contemplative quality he brought to natural landscapes.