1889
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Night, from On Death, Part I, Opus XI (Nacht, Vom Tode, Erster Teil, Opus XI) is a 1889 by Max Klinger, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a man sitting on a bench in an enclosed garden at night. The moon is shining through the clouds, casting a quiet glow. This scene is part of a series where the artist explores life and death, and it's interesting because it shows how the artist thought about these big themes. Check out the technique of chiaroscuro to learn more about how artists use light and dark.
In On Death, Part One, a series of ten etchings, the Symbolist Klinger envisioned the ephemeral nature of life and the suddenness of death, themes that prompted one contemporary critic to call the portfolio a modern "Dance of Death." In Night, the first in the series, a man sits on a bench in an enclosed garden. A moonbeam breaks through the clouds over the sea, and on the path to the right is a lily with a fluttering butterfly. The landscape seems an extension of the figure’s melancholy thoughts, a landscape of the mind.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Max Klinger (18 February 1857 – 5 July 1920) was a German artist who produced significant work in painting, sculpture, prints and graphics, as well as writing a treatise articulating his ideas on art and the role of…
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