The Sea of Ice

The Sea of Ice
German: Das Eismeer
ArtistCaspar David Friedrich
Year1823–1824
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions96.7 cm × 126.9 cm (38 in × 49.9 in)
LocationKunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

The Sea of Ice, (German: Das Eismeer) (1823–1824), is an oil painting that depicts a shipwreck in the Arctic by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Before 1826 this painting was known as The Polar Sea.[1]

The work was first exhibited at the Prague Academy exhibition in 1824 with the title An Idealized Scene of an Arctic Sea, with a Wrecked Ship on the Heaped Masses of Ice.[2] Considered one of Friedrich's masterpieces, the radical composition and subject matter were unusual for their time and the work was met with incomprehension. The painting was still unsold when Friedrich died in 1840.[2] It is currently held by the Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany.

  1. ^ Heuer, p. 169
  2. ^ a b Russell, Peter (2016). Delphi Complete Paintings of Caspar David Friedrich. Delphi Classics. ISBN 9781786565006.