Lake Constance. Lake Constance refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance, Lower Lake Constance, and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein. Their serene beauty, picturesque landscapes, and historical significance have inspired artists of various styles and periods. Romantic artists, such as Caspar David Friedrich, often depicted Lake Constance as a source of inspiration and contemplation. Paintings of the lakes often capture the grandeur and mystery of the natural world, with one of the lakes often serving as a central focal point. Impressionist artists, like Claude Monet, were drawn to the play of light and color on Lake Constance. Impressionist paintings of the lakes often featured scenes of boats, people, and landscapes bathed in the soft glow of sunlight. On the other hand, Gustave Courbet focused on depicting Lake Constance in a realistic and objective manner. The waterbodies lie within the Lake Constance Basin in the Alpine Foreland through which the Rhine flows. The nearby Mindelsee is not considered part of Lake Constance. The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. Its shorelines lie in the German states of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria; the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Schaffhausen; and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The actual locations of the country borders within the lake are disputed. The Alpine Rhine forms, in its original course, the Austro-Swiss border and flows into the lake from the south. The High Rhine flows westbound out of the lake and forms the German-Swiss border as far as to the city of Basel. The Leiblach forms the Austria-Germany border east of the lake. The most populous towns on the Upper Lake are Constance, Friedrichshafen, Bregenz, Lindau, �berlingen and Kreuzlingen. The largest town on the Lower Lake is Radolfzell. The largest islands are Reichenau in the Lower Lake, and Lindau and Mainau in the Upper Lake. Bodanruck, a large peninsula, separates the Upper and Lower Lake. While in English and in the Romance languages, the lake is named after the city of Constance, the German name derives from the village of Bodman, in the northwesternmost corner of the lake. Lake Constance is located along the Rhine between the Alpine Rhine, its main tributary, and the High Rhine, its outflow. It is the third largest freshwater lake by surface area in Central and Western Europe, after Lake Geneva and Lake Balaton. It is 63 km long, and, nearly 14 km at its widest point. It covers about 536 km 2, and is 395 m above sea level. Its greatest depth is 252 metres, exactly in the middle of the Upper Lake. Its volume is about 48 km 3. The lake has two parts. The main east section, called Obersee or Upper Lake, covers about 473 square kilometres, including its northwestern arm, the �berlinger See, and the smaller west section, called Untersee or Lower Lake, with an area of about 63 square kilometres. The connection between these two lakes is the Seerhein. Geographically, it is sometimes not considered to be part of the lake, but a river. The Lower Lake Constance is loosely divided into three sections around the Island of Reichenau.
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