[2] It depicts a man standing upon a rocky precipice with his back to the viewer; he is gazing out on a landscape covered in a thick sea of fog through which other ridges, trees, and mountains pierce, which stretches out into the distance indefinitely.
[9] While the identity of the man is uncertain, some have suggested it is a self-portrait of the artist himself, pointing to similarities in appearance, such as the red hair,[10] and for this reason the painting has been interpreted as an emblem of self-reflection or contemplation of life's path.
He compares Friedrich's searching Wanderer who does not know the future with Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, which is more certain about the course of action required, perhaps related to the differences in German and French nationalism of the era.
[14] While Wanderer is detailed, it does not lose focus by including an array of geographic features, other people, or buildings; the work stays centered on the mountains and the mist, and lets the viewer's eye explore it at its own pace.
"[16] Other works of Friedrich's comparable to Wanderer with such a Rückenfigur motif include Woman at a Window, Two Men by the Sea at Moonrise, and Neubrandenburg.
The art historian Norbert Wolf, following Koerner and others, has stated that the figure in Wanderer above the Sea of Fog wears just such an Altdeutsches outfit, a political statement in the era when the painting was created.
This corresponds with Luther's writing that all the great cathedrals and pompous buildings of the Catholic Church of his era could be torn down with little loss.
To Friedrich's interpretation of Lutheranism, true religion was found in nature, simplicity, and individual people, all elements of Wanderer.
[20] Another potential link was how Friedrich met and befriended the scientist and fellow painter Carl Gustav Carus in 1817 just before he would have been preparing and painting Wanderer.
Art historian Joseph Koerner notes that Carus wrote on a particular verse in the Luther Bible: Luther translated the account of God's creation of Earth in the Book of Genesis 2:6 as Aber ein Nebel ging auf von der Erde und feuchtete alles Land (English: A fog arose from the Earth and moistened the entire land).
He sees that Wanderer could well be depicting a Creation-esque scene: the figure views a land of unknown possibility, hidden in the mist, emerging from the heart as an emanation from the "I".
[15] Robert Macfarlane argues the painting had significant influence on how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, calling it the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary".
Wanderer has appeared on the cover of numerous books, T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, and so on, becoming a staple of "popular art" as well as high culture.
[20] Werner Hofmann hypothesizes that the subject looking upon a canvas of open possibility, ready to make a choice and find what awaits him, appeals to modern viewers.