enced by
             most individuals, Friedrich spent his early life dealing and coping up with
             the death of his mother. Subsequently, he also witnessed the deaths of his
             brother and two of his sisters. Most historians in the field of art and
             even psychologists agree that these life events shaped Friedrich's artistic
             predisposition as well as the emotional contents of his works. But when he
             was growing into a mature man, most people who knew Friedrich considered
             him as an introvert with a flair for humor and a hint of self-irony.
             In the year 1770, Friedrich started the formal study of art under the
             instruction of Johann Gottfried Quistorp at the University of Greifswald.
             Since then, he was able to study landscape art and found his artistic niche
             in this aspect. By the year 1806, Friedrich was already in his way to
             becoming a full-fledged artist. Immediately after winning the prestigious
             Weimar competition in 1805, he exhibited his first masterpiece, The Cross
             in the Mountains (1807) or The Tetschen Altar the following year (Siegel
             57). His first art exhibition became highly controversial for it depicted
             what many thought as a religious or spiritual obscurity; in the painting,
             Friedrich placed the crucifixion of Christ at the background to highlight
             the meaning of the work. This detail symbolized the message of Christ's
             selfless love for mankind- an apparently religious element not used by any
             ...