Alongside Hans Holbein the Younger, Arnold Böcklin is one of the patron saints of the Kunstmuseum Basel, which houses the most important collection of his works with over 90 paintings and sculptures. The Basel-born artist achieved enormous fame in the German-speaking world at the end of the 19th century and is one of the most important representatives of Symbolism.

Böcklin was already controversial during his lifetime. For some, he was an innovator, while others (such as the influential art critic Julius Meier-Graefe) accused him of having held back progress in art.

In twelve constellations, in which Böcklin encounters works by predecessors, contemporaries and unexpected kindred spirits, central biographical, stylistic and thematic aspects of his oeuvre crystallize. The mood barometer fluctuates between satire, atmospheric melancholy and solemn seriousness.

Where Böcklin remains elusive, where the desire for new beginnings and adherence to tradition are irreconcilably opposed in his work, he reveals himself as a child of the contradictory fin de siècle period.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.