Friday, 17 April 2026

Arnold Böcklin -part 2


c1899 Self-Portrait with Death
chiaroscuro wood engraving printed in black and blue on wove paper 13.1 x 10.7 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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 1 of a 3-part series on the works of Arnold Böcklin:



1862 The Hunt of Diana
oil on canvas 188.5 x 34.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

c1863 The Hermit
oil on canvas 106 x 57.8 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

c1863 Roman Landscape with Fountain
oil on canvas 32.4 x 46.1 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1863 Portrait of Angela Böcklin as Muse
oil on canvas 70 x 57.5 cm

1863 Head of a Roman
oil on canvas 46.5 x 36.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

c1864 Villa by the Sea
oil on canvas 62.1 x 74.3 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1864 Villa by the Sea
oil on canvas 134.5 x 174.5 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1864 Portrait of Daughter Lucia
oil on copper 26.3 x 21.8 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1864 A Shepherdess
oil on canvas 62 x 52.8 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1865 Ancient Roman Wine Tavern in Spring
oil on wood 63.8 x 94.4 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1866 Viola
oil on slate 74.5 x 58 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1866 The Shepherd's Lament
oil on canvas 137 x 100.4 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1866 Spring Nymph with Cornucopia (Flora)
oil on walnut wood 48 x 41 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1866 Faun and Blackbird
oil on canvas 46.5 x 36 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1867 Portrait of Sibylla Müller-Kleyling
oil on canvas 54.5 x 46.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1867 Petrarch at the source of Vaucluse
oil on canvas 128 x 192.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1867 Mourning of Mary Magdalene over the body of Christ
oil on canvas 85.6 x 150 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1867/70? Rector Fritz Burckhardt-Brenner
oil on canvas 55.5 x 46.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1868 Frescoes from the garden hall of Councillor Karl Sarasin-Sauvain

The frescos, transferred to canvas, adorned the back wall of a pavilion that Karl Sarasin-Sauvain had built in his garden between St. Alban-Vorstadt and St. Alban-Aniage in Basel. The commission for the wall paintings, featuring motifs from the Old and New Testaments, was probably arranged by Böcklin’s friend Jacob Burckhardt:


1868 The Walk to Emmaus
fresco

1868 Rest on the Flight into Egypt
fresco

1868 King David
fresco

1868/69 Portrait of Professor Fritz Burckhardt-Brenner
oil on cardboard 27 x 21 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1868/69 Portrait of Anna Elisabeth Burckhardt-Brenner
oil on cardboard 26.5 x 20 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1869 Portrait of Hélène and Georgine Vischer
oil on canvas 72 x 59 cm

1870 Portrait of Fritz Burckhardt, son of Fritz and Anna Elisabeth Burckhardt-Brenner
oil on canvas 27 x 21.5 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1870 Italian Villa in Spring
oil on canvas 80 x 102 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1870 Dragon in a rocky Gorge
oil on canvas 152 x 92.5 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1870 Destroyed House near Keh
oil on canvas, mounted on cardboard 20.7 x 35.4 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1870 A walk to Emmaus
oil on canvas 94 x 139.5 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich

1870 A murderer pursued by Furies
oil on canvas 80 x 141 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich


1871 Designs for the garden façade of the Kunsthalle Basel:

1871 Plaster cast of the design for the first mask
76.2 x 34.5 x 41 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

Plaster cast of the first mask
78 x 48 x 31 cnm

Plaster Cast of the Second Mask
74.5 x 47.5 x 29.5 cm

Plaster cast of the third mask
75.5 x 50 x 30.5 cm

Study for the third mask
plaster 37.7 x 26 x 17.2 cm

Plaster cast of the fourth mask
74.5 x 47.5 x 30.5 cm

Study for the fourth mask
36 x 24.5 x 14.7 cm

Plaster cast of the fifth mask
76 x 48.5 x 33.5 cm

Study for the fifth mask
37 x 24.5 x 16.5 cm

Plaster cast of the sixth mask 
73.5 x 48 x 32 cm

Study for the sixth mask
36 x 26 x 16 cm

1871 Nymph and Satyr
oil on canvas 108 x 154.9 cm
Philadelphia Art Museum, PA

1871 Melancholy
oil on canvas 73.5 x 59 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel

1871 Ideal spring landscape
oil on canvas 73.5 x 59.6 cm
Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich


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