Biographies

Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901)

The following bio of Böcklin is drawn (with minor changes) from the website: Filahome Arnold Böcklin was born in Basel, the son of a textile merchant, and went on to became one of Switzerland’s major 19th century artists. . . . After training at the Basel Municipal School of Art and Düsseldorf Academy of Art, Böcklin went on a study trip through the Alps, from the Grisons to Lake Geneva, in 1847. After that he moved to Paris just in time for the Revolution of 1848. From 1850 to 1857 he was in Rome, and it was in the mid-1850s that the first mythological figures were featured in his Roman landscapes. He was in Basel in 1857 and 1858 before moving on to Hanover and Munich. Between 1860 and 1862 he was professor of landscape painting at the Weimar Academy of Art. He returned to Rome between 1852 and 1866, worked on frescoes in Basel between 1866 and 1871, and moved to Munich for three years before settling in Florence until 1885. From there he went to Zurich, where he stayed until 1892, striking up a friendship with the author Gottfried Keller. Finally he moved back to Florence and died in San Domenico, Italy. Art historians usually categorize Böcklin as a symbolist painter. His best known work is his eerie representation of the island of the dead.