Fernand Khnopff painted enigmatic sphinxes, grotesque chimeras and dreamy female figures, set his pictures in a melancholy intermediate realm that meandered between the waking and dream state, and became one of the most important painters of Symbolism in Belgium.
(...) Continue readingFernand Khnopff – Art studies in Brussels; study trip to Paris
Fernand Khnopff was born in Grembergen near Dendermonde in Flanders on 12 September 1858, and spent his childhood in Bruges, where his father worked as deputy royal chief public prosecutor. His father also wished for his son to pursue a career in law, but Fernand Khnopff preferred to attend the Brussels Academy of Fine Arts, where his teachers Xavier Mellery and Jean-François Portaels initially introduced him to naturalistic painting in the form of portraits and landscapes. He also met James Ensor, who later became famous as the ‘painter of masks’ and, alongside Khnopff himself, is considered the most important representative of Symbolism in Belgium. On study trips to Paris, Khnopff became acquainted with the work of the Frenchman Eugène Delacroix, which had such an influence on him that he chose it as an artistic model for his own work. He eventually broke off his studies at the academy and began a career as a freelance painter in Paris.
The turn to Symbolism; founding of ‘Les Vingt’
In addition to painting, Fernand Khnopff was also interested in literature and socialised with the writer Maurice Maeterlinck and the poet Émile Verhaeren, who wrote several articles about Khnopff for the magazine L'Art Moderne and later expanded them into a book. After taking further lessons from Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre at the Académie Julian, Fernand Khnopff turned increasingly to Symbolism under the influence of the painter Gustave Moreau. At the 1878 World Exhibition, he came into contact with the works of the English Pre-Raphaelites, where he was particularly impressed by Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti with their mystical themes. In 1883, together with his fellow student James Ensor and other like-minded artists such as Théo van Rysselberghe, Rodolphe Wytsman and the Boch siblings, he founded the Société des Vingt artists' association, whose declared aim was to promote unconventional artistic approaches. He exhibited at the Paris Salon for the first time in 1884 and subsequently established himself as a permanent fixture in the Parisian art scene.
Mysterious and melancholic female figures
Fernand Khnopff painted numerous enigmatic portraits of women. His sister Marguerite was his favoured model throughout his life, and they lived together in a luxurious property. His mysterious women often appeared in the shape of a chimera or sphinx, and his choice of format was as idiosyncratic as his motifs: Khnopff sometimes favoured extreme formats for his later work, expansive in height or excessive in width. His participation in the Vienna Secession was crowned with great success, and major artists such as the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt drew inspiration from Khnopff's work. In 1903, Khnopff's enthusiasm for opera and theatre led him to design the stage sets for the play Le Mirage by his friend Georges Rodenbach, who had also written a key Symbolist novel, The Dead Bruges, the first edition of which was illustrated by Khnopff. The German Symbolists, for example Franz von Stuck, but also the artists of Art Nouveau, were influenced by Fernand Khnopff's mystical fantasies executed in sombre and pale colours.
Fernand Khnopff died in Brussels on 12 November 1921.
Fernand Khnopff - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
