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| Self-Portrait oil on mahogany wood 39.5 x 31 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901). Böcklin’s art had little in common with Impressionism or the academic art of his time. Instead, his depictions of demigods in naturalistic settings interpret themes from Classical mythology in an idiosyncratic, often sensual manner. In the Sea, part of a series of paintings of mythological subjects, displays an unsettling, earthy realism. Mermaids and tritons frolic in the water with a lusty energy and abandon verging on coarseness. Occupying the centre of the composition is a harp playing triton. Three mermaids have attached themselves to his huge frame as if it were a raft; the one near his shoulder seems to thrust herself upon him. The work’s sense of boisterousness is tempered by the ominously shaped reflection of the triton and mermaids in the sea and by the oddness of the large-eared heads that emerge from the water at the right. In addition to imaginative, bizarre interpretations of the Classical world, Böcklin painted mysterious landscapes punctuated by an occasional lone figure. These haunting later works made him an important contributor to the international Symbolist movement. They also appealed to some Surrealist artists, particularly Giorgio de Chirico, who declared, “Each of (Böcklin’s) works is a shock. Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Part 3 of a 3-part series on the works of Arnold Böcklin:
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| c1871 A sacred Grove oil on canvas 80.5 x 103.1 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| 1871 The Ride of Death (Autumn and Death) oil on canvas 79 x 136.5 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| 1872 Venus Anadyomene oil on panel 59.1 x 45.7 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri |
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| 1872 The Dying Cleopatra (First Version) oil on canvas 76 x 61.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel. |
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| c1872 The Painting on the Rainbow (Fragment of a Screen) oil on canvas, gold primed 66.9 x 64.6 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| c1872 Roman May Festival oil on canvas 75.5 x 61 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| c1872 Idyll (fragment of a screen) oil on canvas, gold primed 67.1 x 64.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1872/73 Portrait of Clara Böcklin, the artist's eldest daughter tempera on canvas 105 x 77 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1872-73 Centaur Fight oil on canvas 104.2 x 194.3 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| c1873 Astolf rides away with Orill's head oil on canvas 54 x 77 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1873 In Springtime oil on canvas 104,5 x 78 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Australia |
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| 1874 Nymph on the Shoulders of Pan tempera on panel 38.3 x 35.5 cm Private Collection |
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| 1874 Triton and Nereid oil on canvas 105.3 x 194 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| 1874 Sideboard with Ceres and Bacchus walnut and oil on canvas 307.3 x 325.1 x 67.3 cm overall Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
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| 1875 The Muse Clio oil on canvas 105.5 x 78 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1875 Portrait of the art historian Adolph Bayersdorfer Tempera (?) on mineral support materia 38.7 x 30 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1875 Faun, blowing the syrinx oil on canvas 62.5 x 50 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| 1876 Portrait of Clara Bruckmann-Böcklin, the artist's eldest daughter tempera (?) on fir wood 60.5 x 47 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1879 Head of a dead girl tempera on canvas 9.5 x 17.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
1880 Island of the Dead
Böcklin’s patron Marie Berna commissioned this painting in 1880 as a memorial to her late husband. It is based on an unfinished canvas that she saw in the artist’s studio in Florence; at her request, he added the draped coffin and the shrouded figure to the rowboat in the foreground. Böcklin later wrote to her, "you will be able to dream yourself into the world of dark shadows." Between 1883 and 1886, he painted three additional versions of the subject, each slightly different. The scene was widely reproduced and inspired numerous artists, including the composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and the Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
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| 1880 Island of the Dead oil on wood 73.7 x 121.9 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| 1881 The Gothic Procession medium? on canvas 100.5 x 141.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1881 Ruin by the Sea oil on fabric 111 x 82 cm The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| 1882 Odysseus and Calypso oil on mahogany wood 103.5 x 149.8 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1882 The Sacred Grove oil on canvas 105 x 150.6 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1882-85 Fight on the Bridge oil on mahogany wood 61 x 50 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1883 In the Sea oil on panel 86.5 x 115 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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| 1883 In the play of the waves oil on canvas 180 x 238 cm Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich |
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| 1884 The Sanctuary of Hercules oil on wood 113.8 x 180.5 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
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| 1886 The Game of the Nereids oil on canvas 150.5 x 176.4 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1887 Shield with the head of Medusa plaster 60.5 diameter Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| c1888 Sappho (Calypso) medium? on canvas on fir wood 85.5 x 69 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1888 Vita somnium breve (Life, a brief dream) medium? on mahogany wood 189 x 114.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1888 The island of Life oil on mahogany wood 93.3 x 140.1 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1890 The Isle of the Dead (note: very similar to the 1880 version but not actually the same) oil on canvas 110 x 156.4 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1893 The Muse Thalia medium? on mahogany wood 26 x 18 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1893-97 Saint Paul brush in grey and pencil on vellum 18.8 x 14.3 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| 1898 Saint Paul resin tempera on canvas on wood 150 x 65 cm |
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| 1896 The Hunt of Diana oil on canvas 99.5 x 200.5 cm RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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| 1896 Odysseus and Polyphemus oil and tempera on panel 66 x 150 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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| 1897 Shield with the face of Medusa painted papier-mâchérelief 61 cm diameter RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
1898 The Plague
Arnold Böcklin dared to create a personification of the cruel plague in 1898. In the painting, a large-scale and dragon-like monster rages through the picture. A rickety grim reaper sits on top of it; he swings his weapon around seemingly at random, spreading great mischief over the streets. The eyes are hollowed out, the corners of the mouth pulled down - neither compassion nor any other human emotion can be seen in the frozen face. One can literally feel how the monster flies into the picture space and towards the viewer, so dynamically is its flight depicted.
Alexandra Tuschka
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| 1898 The Plague tempera on wood 149.8 x 105.1 cm Kunstmuseum Basel |
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| c1900 Ruin by the sea lithograph 23.3 x 30.6 cm (plate) |
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| c1900 Odysseus and Calypso lithograph 24 x 31.4 cm |
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| c1900 The Nereids lithograph 19.7 x 31.5 cm |
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| c1900 The island of the dead lithograph 24 x 35.4 cm |
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| c1900 Centaurs fight lithograph 20.3 x 33.3 cm |
