ESSEN.- The Folkwang Museum in Essen is staging a spectacular cultural event, the exhibition "Caspar David Friedrich – Inventing Romanticism," on view through August 20. Visitors will be able to admire some 70 paintings and over 120 works on paper by the most famous German Romantic painter, including his best-known work "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen", which has never before been loaned for a Friedrich retrospective. Over 50 national and international museums and collections have made loans available. The project is being executed in proven partnership with E.ON Ruhrgas, which has already sponsored various major exhibitions. As a tribute to Caspar David Friedrich's Swedish origins, HM Queen Silvia of Sweden is acting as patron of the exhibition, which she officially opened at the preview on 2 May.

"We are all happy that we are able to present such a spectacular exhibition at the Folkwang Museum as the first institution in the Ruhr region shortly after the decision in favour of Essen as European capital of culture in 2010," says Hartwig Fischer, who has been director of the Folkwang Museum since February of this year. "This underlines the city's claim to that title and will attract visitors from all over Germany. Internationally, Essen and the Ruhr region will also be at the centre of attention."

"Our Friedrich exhibition is one of the most important displays in 2006," says Dr. Hubertus Gassner, curator of the exhibition and director of the Hamburger Kunsthalle. He underscores the artistic significance of Caspar David Friedrich's oeuvre. "In this exhibition, we are presenting Friedrich as an ingenious creator of romantic moods and sentiments. In seven sections we show how romanticism in the meaning also known to us today was, as it were, invented in the early 19th century," to which the exhibition's sub-title also alludes.

Dr. h.c. Achim Middelschulte, cultural representative of the E.ON Group, stresses the long-standing commitment of E.ON Ruhrgas to cultural life in the Ruhr region. "By sponsoring this exhibition, we are assuming a degree of social responsibility, because we have always regarded culture as an economic and business location factor as well." Mr. Middelschulte considers the Folkwang Museum's cultural links with international lenders to be of "particular value", not least for Essen and the region. "This is illustrated not least by the fact that the four most important Friedrich collections, those in Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and St. Petersburg, have made their main works available for this exhibition."