Metropolitan Museum of Art Christmas cards. This contemplative scene of snow-covered spruces was originally painted by Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774-1840). Friedrich reimagined European landscape painting by portraying nature as a setting for profound spiritual and emotional encounters. Working in the vanguard of the German Romantic movement, which championed a radical new understanding of the bond between nature and the inner self, he emphasized the complexity of our responses to the natural world. Produced in cooperation with Neue Pinakothek, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich. Please note that our holiday cards reproduce original works of art, some of which include visual artifacts and imperfections.