/internal/media/dispatcher/4863/fullCalm WaterDer Teich von Menil1894[Fernand Khnopff]Fernand KhnopffOil on canvas The pond is utterly still. Isolated trees line the green bank, yet the artist directs our gaze to the water and not to the treetops. We can only identify the surroundings from the reflection. Fernand Khnopff sought to visualize a world unexplored by humanity. As an exponent of Symbolism, the Belgian artist’s depictions of ponds and glades were intended to make a deeper reality visible. The water’s surface becomes a metaphor of the unfathomable human psyche: it reflects the image like a mirror, but it is impossible to see into the pond’s depths. Khnopff’s works were shown at the first exhibitions of the Vienna Secession. Their subliminal messages fascinated the group of artists around Gustav Klimt.Paintinghttps://sammlungtest.belvedere.at/objects/7541/rdf