Caspar David Friedrich often sought communion with nature as a means of expressing his feelings, ideas, hopes and yearnings, much like many of us do today. I was struck by his painting as I stood before it in Madrid, Spain, at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
This painting is permeated with a rich religious symbolism that seeks to carry his message to the viewer. Everything in it has meaning: the moon and the dawn are symbolic of death and the hope of eternal life, and the season chosen—late winter giving way to early spring—is linked to the Resurrection.
It is Easter morning. The women in the picture are walking slowly to the tomb. They don’t know that Jesus is alive. They are focused on death, but as they go, they walk under trees where new leaves have begun burst from their buds.
Soon these same women will run the other way. “He is alive!” will be heard for the first time, now repeated billions of times over the centuries since that day. New life springs eternal, as it did for these women, as it did for Casper David Friedrich, and as it does for us today, this day after Easter morning.
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