Arnold Böcklin (; 16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolist painter. His five versions of the Isle of the Dead inspired works by several late Romantic composers.

Biography

Arnold Böcklin was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk trade. His mother, Ursula Lippe, was a native of the same city.

Career

thumbnail|[[Roger Freeing Angelica (Böcklin)|Roger Freeing Angelica, 1873]]

He then exhibited the Great Park, one of his earliest works, in which he treated ancient mythology. Of this period are his Nymph and Satyr, Heroic Landscape (Diana Hunting), both of 1858, and Sappho (1859). These works, which were much discussed, together with Lenbach's recommendation, gained him appointment as professor at the Weimar academy. He held the office for two years, painting the Venus and Love, a Portrait of Lenbach, and a Saint Catherine.

Clement Greenberg wrote in 1947 that Böcklin's work "is one of the most consummate expressions of all that is now disliked about the latter half of the nineteenth century."

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Legacy

thumb|upright=1.4|[[Isle of the Dead (painting)|Isle of the Dead (Die Toteninsel): Third version, 1883. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.]]

thumb|upright=1.4|The Island of Life (Die Lebensinsel), 1888. [[Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel.]]

During his lifetime, Böcklin achieved considerable recognition, especially in central Europe, and influenced younger artists such as Hans Thoma. After his death in 1901 his reputation declined rapidly as modern art styles made the literary character of his paintings seem old-fashioned. – who said "Each of Böcklin's works is a shock" – and was admired by Surrealist painters such as Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí. A general revival of interest in Böcklin began only in the 1960s.

Museums holding several works by Böcklin include the Kunstmuseum Basel and the Kunsthaus Zürich.

In music

Böcklin's paintings, especially Isle of the Dead, inspired several late-Romantic composers.

  • Gustav Mahler's song Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (St. Anthony's Sermon to the Fish) from his Des Knaben Wunderhorn song cycle, which also appears as the Scherzo movement in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Mahler) was inspired by Böcklin's 1892 painting, St. Anthony Preaching to the Fish.
  • In 1891, Portuguese pianist José Vianna da Motta composed two pieces on Böcklin's paintings Meeresidylle and Im Spiel der Wellen.
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff (see Isle of the Dead) and Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen both composed symphonic poems after it. Rachmaninoff was also inspired by Böcklin's painting Die Heimkehr ("The Homecoming" or "The Return") when writing his Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10.
  • Andreas Hallén, a Swedish Romantic composer, wrote a symphonic poem Die Toteninsel in 1898.
  • In 1903, Austrian, later American, composer Karl Weigl composed a tone poem for piano "Die Toteninsel".
  • In 1913 Max Reger composed a set of Four Tone Poems after Böcklin with the movements "Der geigende Eremit", "Im Spiel der Wellen", "Die Toteninsel", and "Bacchanal".
  • In Mark Robson's film Isle of the Dead (1945), Disney composer Leigh Harline's somber score makes use of Sergei Rachmaninoff's music.
  • Hans Huber's second symphony is entitled Böcklin-Sinfonie, after the artist and his paintings.
  • Felix Woyrsch composed 3 Böcklin Phantasies (Die Toteninsel, Der Eremit, Im Spiel der Wellen), Op. 53 (1910).
  • Fulvio Caldini composed L'isola di Böcklin, his Op.85 for electronic instruments (2001).

Other

The Schriftgiesserei Otto Weisert foundry designed an Art Nouveau typeface in 1904 and named it "Arnold Böcklin" in his honor.

Adolf Hitler was fond of Böcklin's work, at one time owning 11 of his paintings.

Roger Zelazny's novel Isle of the Dead features a planet-building character inspired by the painting to create an Isle of the Dead on one of his worlds, and an Ace books edition features a cover painting by Dean Ellis that is deliberately reminiscent of Böcklin's work.

Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, opened his 1942 laudatory article on Dmitry Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony with an allusion to Böcklin's painting "War".

Works

<gallery mode="packed" heights="130">

File:Böcklin 1846 Bildnis Alexander Michelis (2).jpg|Alexander Michelis, 1846

File:Arnold Böcklin - Mondscheinlandschaft mit Ruine.jpg|Moonlit Landscape, 1849

File:Arnold Böcklin - Campagna Landscape - WGA3026.jpg|Campania Landscape, 1851

File:Arnold Böcklin (11)Italien Landschaft.JPG|Italian Landscape, 1858

File:Böcklin, Arnold - Die Klage des Hirten - 1866.jpg|The Shepherd's Lament, 1866

File:Arnold Böcklin – Idyll.jpg|Idyll, 1866

File:Böcklin Mädchen und Jüngling beim Blumenpflücken 1866.jpg|Boy and Girl Picking Flowers, c.1866

File:Arnold Boecklin-fiedelnder Tod.jpg|Self-portrait with Death playing the fiddle, 1872

File:Arnold Böcklin - Venus Anadyomene.jpg|Venus Anadyomene, 1872

File:The Muse Euterpe by Arnold Böcklin.jpg|The Muse Euterpe, 1872

File:Arnold Böcklin - The Deposition - WGA03027.jpg|Mourning under the Cross, 1876

File:Arnold Böcklin - Die Gefilde der Seligen.jpg|The Elysian Fields, 1877

File:Arnold Böcklin - Hochzeitsreise.jpg|Honey Moon, 1878

File:Arnold Böcklin (15)Meeresbrandung.JPG|Ocean Breakers (The Sound), 1879

File:Arnold Böcklin - Summer Day - Google Art Project.jpg|Summer Day, 1881

File:Arnold Böcklin 008.jpg|Odysseus and Calypso, 1882

File:Arnold Böcklin - Das Irrlicht -1882.jpeg|Will-o'-the-Wisp, 1882

File:Arnold Boecklin Spiel der Wellen 1883.jpg|Playing in the Waves, 1883

File:Böcklin Einsiedler.jpg|The Hermit, 1884

File:Arnold Böcklin - Das Heiligtum des Herkules (1884).jpg|The Sanctuary of Hercules, 1884

File:Arnold Böcklin (3)Selbsbildnis m Weinglas.JPG|Self-portrait with the wine glass, 1885

File:Böcklin Die Heimkehr 1887.jpg|The Homecoming, <!-- ("Die Heimkehr") -->1887

Arnold Böcklin - Odysseus und Polyphemus (1896).jpg|Odysseus and Polyphemus, 1896

</gallery>

See also

  • List of paintings by Arnold Böcklin

References

  • Bocklin in "History of Art"
  • Böcklin biography and images at CGFA
  • A gallery of art from Arnold Böcklin
  • 70 different engravings by Arnold Böcklin on display with translations (Archived 2009-10-25)
  • German masters of the nineteenth century : paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany, a full text exhibition catalog from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Arnold Böcklin (nos. 5–10)
  • "Brahms, Böcklin, and the Gesang der Parzen", by Eftychia Papanikolaou; article in Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography 30/1-2 (Spring-Fall 2005): 154–165.