The Great Enclosure depicts a late summer sunset over the Elbe and the surrounding land, as the sun shines its last light, spreading blue and yellows over the expansive sky.

[1] Friedrich especially explored the awe-inspiring effect of natural landscape on the human viewer, examining how subjective experience affects perception.

[2][5] German art historian Willi Wolfradt suggests that this curvature of the sky begins in the grove in the distance and is mirrored in the form of the sandbanks.

This theme of transition is further emphasized by the transitory period of twilight,[5] as well as the barren foreground and muted tones of the muddy earth and large puddles, which reflect the heavens above.

[2] The diminutive size of the ship relative to the vast landscape suggests that human influence is having a small effect on the greatness of the natural world.

Inspired by The Great Enclosure, Johann Philipp Veith created a reproduction of Friedrich's work entitled Evening on the Elbe in 1832.