Kobaltblau

Caspar David Friedrich. A name I associate with the individual that grapples with its own ephemerality in the face of the infinity of space and time. Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (Wanderer above the Sea Fog) is one of my favorite paintings. A reproduction of it used to hang in my apartment in West LA, where the beach was never far away, the seagulls used to carry the shore up to my balcony. A romantic longing to reunite with the world shines through his paintings that often depict landscapes during sunset or sunrise, laying out the many shades between concrete and other-worldly. Unendliche Landschaften. The name of the special exhibition about his work in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin right on the Museumsinsel, where you find treasures such as the Pergamonaltar, the Ishtar Tor of Babylon, and Nofretete. What caught my eye was a rather unusual object. A cupboard that contained the colors Caspar used to work with. Kobaltblau was the color that resonated deeply with me. From the Blaue Blume of Novalis to the Thalassale Regression of Benn, something seems to deeply move me about this symbolic yet sensual experience of blueness. I hope one day someone will publish a Blue Theory that might capture the vulnerable moments of reconnecting with the world one day…