Carl Blechen (1798-1840)

Carl Blechen (1798-1840)

Carl Blechen (1798-1840)

Carl Eduard Ferdinand Blechen (29 July 1798, Cottbus - 23 July 1840, Berlin)
was a German landscape painter and a Professor at the Academy of Arts, Berlin.
His distinctive style was characteristic of the Romantic ideals of natural beauty

In 1831, upon the recommendation of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, he was appointed Professor of Landscape Painting at the Berlin Academy. In 1835 he became a full member of the Academy and took a study trip to Paris. It was then that the first symptoms of his mental illness appeared.
His condition deteriorated and he suffered severe bouts of depression that forced him to take a leave of absence from the Academy in 1836. The following year, he had to be admitted to a hospital.
He was able to make one final trip to Dresden, where he made his last drawings.
He died four years later, in a state of total mental derangement.
He was buried in the Holy Trinity Cemetery (II), but the exact location is no longer known.
He is commemorated with a plaque on the cemetery wall.
A street, a park and an elementary school in Cottbus were named after him.
In 2008, the school building became part of the "Blechen Carré [de]", a major shopping center.
Most of his works are in private collections.
He was one of the first European painters to represent early industrialization as part of his landscapes
source wikipedia