Public evening lecture as part of the lecture series "Talking about Friedrich" in the Caspar David Friedrich anniversary year 2024 by Dr. Anne Hemkendreis
(Albrecht-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, SFB 948 "Heroes - Heroizations - Heroisms" and Professor Dr. Christian von Savigny (University of Greifswald, Institute of Physics)
From the perspective of atmospheric physics, Caspar David Friedrich's creative phase falls within an extremely interesting period, during which the eruption of Tambora in April 1815 was one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the last millennium. It is therefore an obvious idea that the unusual atmospheric phenomena following the Tambora eruption could manifest themselves in Friedrich's paintings from the period 1815 - 1820. Previous studies have attempted to derive quantitative information about the amount of volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere from the red-green contrasts in Friedrich's paintings. In this lecture we will take a critical look at this attempt.
Christian von Savigny studied physics and atmospheric sciences at the Universities of Tübingen, Heidelberg and York University (Toronto). He received his doctorate from York University in 2002 and habilitated at the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen in 2009. He has been Professor of Environmental Physics at the University of Greifswald since 2012.
Anne Hemkendreis studied art history and German language and literature at Ruhr University in Bochum and Trinity College in Dublin. She completed her doctorate at Leuphana University in Lüneburg in 2013. She is a research assistant at the SFB 948 of the Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg (S4 "Aesthetics of Affiliation"). In the academic year 2020/21 she was a Junior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.
Moderation: Dr. Christian Suhm
