Caspar David Friedrich
The Stages of Life is an allegorical oil painting. Completed just five years before Friedrich's death, this picture, like many of his works, forms a meditation both on his own mortality and on the transience of life. The figures have been identified as Friedrich and his family. The aged man is the artist himself, the small boy is his young son Gustav Adolf, the young girl is his daughter Agnes Adelheid, the older girl is his daughter Emma, and the man in the top hat is his nephew Johann Heinrich. These five figures correspond to the five ships visible in the harbor beyond. The three groupings of figures (one aged man, two adults, and two children) echo the positioning of the ships at various distances from the shore as allegorical of the stages of life and closeness to death. The central ship is thought to represent the mother, while two small boats further inshore—references to the two children—have only just begun their voyage and still remain in shallow, clear water. The farthest ship disappears into the setting horizon, symbolizing the aged man's voyage from this life into the unknown.
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