Arnold Bocklin: 60 Paintings (Masterpieces)

Arnold Böcklin (1827 - 1901) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, sculptor, and graphic artist, as well as one of the leading exponents of German Symbolism.He was motivated by the intention of overcoming the naturalistic poetics of Realism and Impressionism not from the scientific point of view but the spiritual one. It was the opinion of the Symbolists, and Böcklin in particular that the purpose of art was to reveal through the use of a language no longer logical, but from "other" reality that hides behind that immediately perceptible with careful use of "symbols." The symbols chosen by Böcklin are inspired by mythology and investigate the world of interiority in a, particularly evocative way. Böcklin's artistic countenance, however, is very complicated, so much so that it has undergone a remarkable stylistic and technical evolution. In his early years, Böcklin was fascinated by Naturalism, orchestrating a powerful phrasing of lights and shadows. Böcklin then frequently gave ample space to an elegiac lyricism that closely resembles the landscape pieces of Poussin and Lorrain. Soon, however, Böcklin felt that he had exhausted the creative possibilities of his "Poussinian" painting and, driven by an unconscious urge for nature, he arrived at a visionary style, animated by a rich, fantastic vein, which is then what made him universally famous. Once back in Germany, Böcklin finally broke the rules of that Apollonian classicism, clear and harmonious, which had until then been norm in the figurative arts. From that moment on, he patiently shaped with craftsmanship a new, extravagant, folkloric world, where Nature finally becomes evocative, literary, strengthened in this sense by mythical and allegorical contents.