Cycle du jour : le soir

This is one panel of four that Friedrich painted around 1821, a set running from Morning through Noon and Afternoon to this, the Evening. Together they track a single day, and behind that a single human life, from childhood to old age. The Evening is the last stage. A pine forest fills almost the whole canvas in browns and greens, and in a clearing two small figures stand watching a red and yellow sunset. They wear old German dress, the altdeutsch costume that Friedrich and his circle favoured in the years after the wars with Napoleon, when a distinct German identity was a live political question. A path bends away from us into the trees toward the last light. This is the only complete cycle of times of day by Friedrich that has stayed together in one place.