易北河谷的雾

In 1821 the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky, tutor to the future tsar, climbed up to Friedrich's studio in Dresden and found a nearly empty room. The paint box, the bottles of linseed oil, even the oily rag had been carried next door. Friedrich believed that any object lying about would disturb the picture he was holding in his head. This small canvas came out of that room. It has the look of something caught on the spot, and it was worked up indoors from memory. The water is the Elbe just below his own windows, the view generally taken from the angle of his studio on the bank Dresden now calls the Terrassenufer. The far shore has gone completely into the vapour, and what is left is one boat with its mast standing clear of the fog.