Calm Water

Artist Fernand Khnopff (1858 Grembergen-lez-Termonde – 1921 Brüssel)

Object typePainting
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
53,5 × 114,5 cm
SignatureBez. links unten (eingeritzt): FERNAND KHNOPFF
Inventory number7753
Location Upper Belvedere
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.

Half-figure of a Nymph (“Vivien”)