Dreams of Freedom

Dreams of Freedom by Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden and State Tretyakov Gallery Moscow, showcases the work of Caspar David Friedrich and Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, the most important artists of the Romantic era in Germany and Russia. At the centre of this opulent book are night scenes and moonlit landscapes, views of Dresden and Italy that are full of yearning, as well as portraits and lovingly depicted interiors by both master painters and their contemporaries.

This book represents an encounter between artworks from Germany and Russia. It illuminates the fundamental questions regarding the radical start of a new era around 1800, such as the fight for political and artistic freedom, the search for national identity, and the fragility of the concepts of homeland and religion. The relationships between the two cultural nations and the journeys of the artists are examined, as are the political aspects of art. The literature and music of the Romantic era, along with selected positions of contemporary art, complement the diverse depiction of this era.

Artists featured include: Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Carl Blechen, Karl Pavlovich Bryullov, Carl Gustav Carus, Pavel Andreyevich Fedotov, Caspar David Friedrich, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Orest Adamovich Kiprenski, Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, Theodor Rehbenitz, Ludwig Richter, Sylvester Feodosiyevich Shchedrin, Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin, Alexei Gavrilovich Venetsianov, and Maxim Nikiforovich Vorobiev.