Caspar David Friedrich was born 250 years ago in Greifswald. He was one of the most important German Romantic painters. His life was marked by personal tragedies from an early age. His mother died when he was six years old. A few years later, his younger brother drowned when he tried to save thirteen-year-old Caspar David, who had fallen into the ice. This traumatic experience left deep wounds and was reflected throughout Friedrich's life in his tendency to melancholy and his introverted nature. From the age of seventeen, he took drawing lessons in Greifswald with Johann Gottfried Quistorp, who made sketches with his pupils on nature walks. This way of working would later continue to characterise Friedrich. Four years later, the now 20-year-old continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1801, however, he left the north for good and moved to Dresden in Saxony. Here, from around 1807, he created unique paintings. They are characterised by a mixture of perfect depictions of nature and the capturing of moods. At the same time, they often contain a second level of meaning. His paintings soon attracted the attention of the art world. His work ‘Tetschener Altar’ in particular made the 34-year-old famous in 1808. He found inspiration on hikes through nature, for example near Dresden and on trips to Rügen and northern Bohemia. After a trip to the Giant Mountains, he created the ‘Morgen im Riesengebirge’ in 1810-1811, which was purchased by the Prussian King Frederick William III. In 1816, the king bought the ‘Hafenansicht’, which had been painted after a trip Friedrich had made to Greifswald the previous year. Alongside other purchases by the Prussian court, they formed the basis for the extensive collection of works by Caspar David Friedrich in Berlin. Friedrich also found many admirers, friends and imitators among other collectors and in artistic circles - but also critics. From the late 1820s onwards, his depictions were considered too heavy with meaning and old-fashioned. Due to his declining popularity and illness, his family's financial problems increased. Caspar David Friedrich died on 7 May 1840 at the age of 65. His work was soon forgotten. It was not until the early 20th century that the exceptional artist was rediscovered, whose paintings and drawings still fascinate and move people all over the world today.