Public reading by Dr. Kia Vahland (Fellow of the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald / Süddeutsche Zeitung) as part of the Caspar David Friedrich Lectures

Caspar David Friedrich does not make it easy for viewers. There is always something in the way of the viewer's gaze: a figure from behind, a stone, a root. With his art of harsh contrasts, the Romantic artist from Greifswald became a painter of longing. Yet the painting of this headstrong man is not bold and gloomy, but subtle, rich in color and ideas: a celebration of nature and inner landscapes. In her volume "Caspar David Friedrich und der weite Horizont" (Insel Bücherei, Berlin 2024), art historian and non-fiction author Kia Vahland explains the astonishing results of recent research and explores the significance of Friedrich's work for the present day.

Kia Vahland studied art history and political science in Rome, Hamburg and Dijon. She teaches at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich and is an editor at the Süddeutsche Zeitung, where she was head of fine arts in the features section from 2008 to 2017 and co-founded the opinion section in 2018. Her work has been awarded the Michael Althen Prize for Criticism by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, among others. She is the author of numerous books, including the biography "Leonardo da Vinci und die Frauen" (Insel Verlag, Berlin 2019), which has been translated several times and was nominated for the Leipzig Non-Fiction Prize. In the summer semester 2025, Kia Vahland is a Junior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald.

Moderation: Junior Professor Dr. Julia Trinkert