The strange paintings of the Symbolist Knopf: Obsession with circles, the city of childhood and his own sister

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Fernand Knopff was the epitome of decadence. The actual founder of Belgian symbolism, he remained a mystery to those around him during his lifetime and to researchers after death. Rosicrucian, supporter of suffragettes, a man with a phobia of the city of Bruges and a special love for circles … He left behind works full of unsolved symbols and inspired many artists - including Gustav Klimt.

Fernand Knopf was born in 1858 into a wealthy family with many children. His father was a deputy prosecutor. The family lived in Bruges, in a large house overlooking the canal. This melancholic image - empty streets, bridges, canals - haunted the artist for the rest of his life. For four decades, he reproduced views of Bruges on canvas. However, all this time he did not want and was even phobically afraid of returning to Bruges, fearing a collision with a reality that is strikingly different from the memories of his childhood.

Knopf was to become a lawyer - what else can we expect from a young man, in whose family lawyers and judges constitute an absolute majority? True, he studied at law school for only a year. Ignoring his studies, he found rest in books - Baudelaire, Flaubert, de Lisle … Fernand himself began to try his hand at literature, but in reality he was attracted by the fine arts. However, studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels also did not work out. Knopf was generally praised by the teacher, he studied the art of those years with interest. Academic painting did not appeal to him, the impressionists seemed superficial. But the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Burne-Jones with its chased rhythm, harsh landscapes and pale faces of characters, fell to Knopf's taste. He also really liked England, he became a real Anglophile. A man, in general, closed and unsociable, he easily merged into social life and made an indelible impression on everyone who met him. “Metal eyes, a contemptuous mouth, aversion to slovenliness is a real dandy,” contemporaries wrote about him.

The same impression was made by his first pictorial experiments. In 1881, Knopff presented his paintings to the public - and earned only one positive review. "Pride, isolation, cruelty and contempt" - so critics wrote about his work. But the young artist was only convinced of the correctness of the chosen path. Two years later, together with the expressionist James Ensor (whom, by the way, he could not stand), he founded the society Le Groupe des XX, which included representatives of the avant-garde Belgian painting. Knopff wrote a lot about art, published monographs, was engaged in research and teaching - and, in general, could have built a career as a scientist, not an artist, if not for the case.

Knopf became famous … the Rosicrucians and one scandal. At the request of the Rosicrucian writer Josephine Peladan, he began to work on illustrations for his book. But singer Rose Karon recognized in the vicious woman on the cover … herself! She was indignant, the story was leaked to the press, and Fernand Knopff woke up famous - however, this fame was dubious. Collaboration with Peladan continued, and Knopff repeatedly presented his work at the meetings of the Order of the Rose and the Cross. The constant heroine of his works is a stern, pale woman with lush red hair and antique facial features.

Sometimes her eyes are filled with cold rage or sadness, sometimes he portrayed her asleep or blind … Often she turned into a sphinx or chimera, and sometimes - an alchemical androgyne. And in the painting "Art, or the Tenderness of the Sphinx," the young man, fascinated by the mythical creature, has the same chiseled face.

Knopff practically did not paint men, and if the plot of the picture required the appearance of such a character, he preferred to give him an androgynous appearance. However, it is not known for certain who this woman, who inspired the artist so much. It is believed that she embodies the image of Fernand's sister, Margarita, ennobled by the artist's brush. Fernand's relationship with Marguerite is also a mystery. Almost before her marriage, she was his constant (sometimes the only) model. It was said that Knopff loves his sister more than a brother is allowed. After his death, stacks of developed photographs of Margarita were found in the studio - he used them for many years after breaking up with his beloved model. By the way, Knopf had an advanced shooting equipment for those times, which he used exclusively for personal purposes.

Sensual pleasures, love in its fleshly embodiment, by everyone's conviction, were alien to the artist. There is no record of his relationships with women or, for that matter, men. But Knopff's accusations of misogyny are false - he actively supported the suffragists. He lived in isolation, alone, in a strange house, which he invented himself. There were statues of Greek gods, the altar of Hypnos - the god of sleep and oblivion, phantasmagoric interiors in shades of blue and gold. Above the entrance was the inscription "We own only ourselves."

The artist was simply obsessed with circles. He didn't just use this figure regularly in his paintings. In his workshop, he painted a circle on the floor with gold paint, in which he put an easel while working. In the main room of the "temple itself," as Knopff called his refuge, hung a full-length portrait of Marguerite.

The artist died in 1921, and in the 1930s the "terrible house" was demolished with the full approval of his relatives. Fernand Knopff was a great influence on many Belgian and Austrian painters. A whole generation of Symbolists grew up on his works, the "fathers" of design, representatives of the Vienna Secession, admired him. Along with Margaret MacDonald, Fernand Knopf became the inspiration for the artist Gustav Klimt. He worked a lot for the theater and was engaged in design. The Music Room of the Stoclet Palace in Brussels - a masterpiece of the Viennese Secession masters - was created by him. Reproductions of Fernand Knopf's works were filmed in the main Soviet horror film Mister Designer, where they emphasized the eerie and sophisticated atmosphere of the film.