Artist: Caspar David Friedrich
Year: 1809–10
Medium: Oil on canvas
The Abbey in the Oakwood (German: Abtei im Eichwald) is an oil painting by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It was painted between 1809 and 1810 in Dresden and was first shown together with the painting The Monk by the Sea in the Prussian Academy of Arts exhibition of 1810. On Friedrich’s request The Abbey in the Oakwood was hung beneath The Monk by the Sea. This painting is one of over two dozen of Friedrich’s works that include cemeteries or graves. After the exhibition both pictures were bought by King Frederick William III for his collection. Today the paintings hang side by side in the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Looks like part of the canvas is gauzily showing through in the lighter parts of the sky? Dunno if it was always intended like that or a preservation issue but either way it really adds to the ominous atmosphere.