Das, was von uns weggeht

Since antiquity, the depiction of farewell has been one of the major themes in the visual arts, as well as in music and literature. In particular, the departure of the wanderer at the beginning of his journey, often with an undetermined destination, has occupied countless important painters and draughtsmen and also challenged the viewer to philosophical reflection: How does that which departs from us appear? At the beginning of the wandering, the face of the wanderer is still recognisable, soon only his profile, soon his back. Slowly he moves into anonymity and his individual features disappear. What remains is the image of a figure on his back - seemingly motionless and yet on the move. And all we experience is an anticipation of the moment when the wanderer actually disappears or returns. On the basis of 7 depictions of the wanderer as a figure on his back in the works of Moritz von Schwind, Carl Gustav Carus, Carl Spitzweg, Caspar David Friedrich and Arnold Böcklin, Carlos Idrobo examines the aesthetic connection between wandering, absence and time in 19th century painting. In doing so, his study moves along the middle path between art history and philosophy, also confidently incorporating insights from dance, music and literary studies, thus enabling a contemporary view of canonical works of art history.