The Caspar David Friedrich Dilemma: Empty Promises of Conservatism under Merz

You would do well to wonder why in the world I will be talking about Caspar David Friedrich, German Romantic Artist, most notably known for his Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. Recently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the brilliant The Soul of Nature exhibition closed to the public. Ending four months of my uninterrupted study of Friedrich’s magnificent works, I was forlorn at the loss of such beautiful artworks but felt as though my time with the artist was not done. Having listened to the fantastic lecture given by co-curator, Dr. Allison Hokanson, I was intrigued by the political factors that would eventually lead to the fall of this romantic artistic. To put it bluntly, Germany industrialized and swung back in time to a pre-revolutionary Europe following the death of Napoleon and the announcement of a rather flimsy German Confederation proposed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. One must wonder what this artist’s life could have been like had the Germany of his day remained progressive through the tumult of the mid-19th century. Thus begins my dissection of the current state of Germany and the timeliness of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s The Soul of Nature exhibition.

Following the most recent chancellorship elections in Germany, the CDU candidate, Friedrich Merz won after two confidence votes in the Bundestag. Merz has had a cyclical journey through politics, rotating between a corporate lawyer from the Sauerland and trailing behind Angela Merkel back in 2008. As someone who was following the German elections quite closely, it was a sigh of relief to see the AfD still unable to clinch leadership, but it is also startling that they would place second in the parliamentary elections. The AfD is a Eurosceptic and anti-immigration party that runs fundamentally on extreme Christian nationalism. This term for Merz will be a real test to see if he is ready to try and pick up the pieces as Olaf Scholz leaves behind a Germany as divided as it has ever been post-Cold War. Like the world of Caspar David Friedrich, ours is once again at the mercy of a tyrant in Russia with a humongous ego, and a hunger for authoritarian domination. Germany is really at the cusp of a grand scale decision: what will its future look like? Between obnoxious voices from Washington and the threat of destruction in the east, Merz must angle the trajectory that the country will follow. An absolute great start to this sojourn was the decision by Merz to refuse the hand of the AfD in a parliamentary coalition. 

To give in to this reckless hate by the ilk of Elon Musk and the AfD would only spell further acrimonious polarisation for the future of Germany. Yes, there was an immigration crisis following the civil war in Syria that is largely due to the result of many European states dropping the ball on carrying the weight of taking in so many refugees. The migration crisis from the 2010s is most likely still fresh in the memory of many Europeans, but perhaps most of all Germany and Greece for their proximity and open border stances. War is cataclysmic to all it touches, certainly those directly affected by the violence that transpires. Similarly to the conflict of the Russo-Ukraine war that has largely been about national ideologies, the Napoleonic Wars would leave the landscape of Europe in a frenzy of industrialised national powers that would eventually culminate into the first and second world wars. The world of Friedrich dissolved harshly as the industrialisation of the German state would have no use for his religiosity and usage of romantic natural scenes.

In early June, Merz made a trip to Washington to meet with Trump with the hopes that they could further discuss the war. Trump has been a flippant critic of both Russia and Ukraine over recent weeks as the conflict shows no sign of ending. Merz has expressed his unwavering support for NATO and the optimistic inclination that the United States will follow suit for the next four years. According to the CFR’s Foreign Affairs Magazine, the Merz agenda will focus its efforts on bolstering the German military in the shadow of war in Ukraine; though it seems that Merz is also treating such militarisation as a panacea for social problems such as housing and job shortages. Obviously, this does not address the fons et origo of these social malaises and will overall lead to distrust in traditional parties in Germany, paving the way for alt right parties.

 It is quite saddening to see militaristic and nationalistic dilemmas repeating that were a large part of European lives in the 19th century. As I gazed into paintings of Friedrich, the sorrow was palpable for the state of the world surrounding him. Doleman in Autumn discloses the tragic beauty of the German past and the looming darkness of repressive national states that would industrialise millions and use them as fodder against competing world powers. If we can learn from the mistakes of the past to bring about a brighter future, logic dictates that we always condemn authoritarianism in an increasingly interconnected world that requires global cooperation. The trap of Friedrich’s world can be a memory and a lesson from the past that instructs on the dangers of growing militarism and nationalist ideologies that will lead to the perils of isolation in an increasingly unstable world.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Caspar David Friedrich

Licence: public domain.

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