Bocklin's island of death

There is an unlucky factor in many works of Swiss-born German painter Arnold Bocklin. His creepy or sentimental pictures are not from allusions or myths, but are very detailed, true and touching. The audience faced the canvas as if he were there. Some art historians say that he is the pioneer of metaphysics in this century, but he is actually the twin brother of German symbolism and romanticism. His allegorical paintings foreshadowed the birth of European surrealism.

Arnold Bocklin (1872.10 ~191.1) was born in Switzerland and went to Germany to study painting. He was one of the most influential painters in Germany at the end of 19. I have been to many places in northern Europe and spent my later years in Italy. 1858 ~ 186 1 year, taught at Weimar Art School in Germany.

Bocklin's later works are more mysterious allegorical paintings. Dead island is his important masterpiece, which depicts the ending of death. This is a symbolic philosophical work. This painting shows a gloomy island in beautiful colors. Because it is true and delicate, the scene makes people feel palpitation: a ship that extradites the dead is heading for an island, surrounded by endless sea, with a white death standing upright at the bow and a coffin on board. This is a vivid donnie darko, a vivid symbol! It is a landscape painting and a popular genre painting with the theme of death in northern Europe.

There are towering black and green cypress trees on the island, which are the trees of life. This reminds people of human descent, so death and life here constitute an implicit symbol. Cypress, in ancient Greek and Roman mythology, is the tree of the underworld and the tree of the cemetery, so this island means the destination of death. Rows of doorways with coffins appeared on the stone wall of the island. The people regard cypress as an eternal evergreen tree, which is a symbol of mourning for the dead. In any case, the theme of "dead island" is undoubtedly rendering the opposition between life and death. But Franklin just said: This is a picture of a dream. According to contemporary records, Bocklin's "Island of Death" is almost hung in many German middle and small bourgeois families, which shows that it does not mean ominous in the eyes of the Nordic people. Maybe they know more about the dialectical relationship between life and death. Later, this painting inspired the famous Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, and his famous symphony Dead Island was inspired by this painting.

Bocklin's art is very special in Germany. His famous oil paintings Odysseus and the Myth of Calypso (1883), Pace the Monster (1898) and the Black Death (1898) shine with the brilliance of German thought and philosophy at the end of the century.

Dead island was painted with egg glue on a mahogany board in 1880, with a length of11×155cm. It is now in the National Art Museum in Basel. There are many variations of this painting, which are hidden in European museums.