At the retrospective of Fernand Khnopff's work that visited the McMullen Museum at Boston College in 2004, his early painting After Gustave Flaubert. The Temptation of St. Anthony (1883) was displayed next to Salome Dancing by Gustave Moreau. Moreau (1821-1898) was a French Symbolist whose pronouncements on art sound familiar to followers of Khnopff.. "I am dominated by one thing, an irresistible, burning attraction towards the abstract." Moreau said, truer in Khnopff's case than in his. Khnopff made no secret of his admiration for Moreau, and the influence it had on him before he discovered the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Edward Burne-Jones, who became his friend.
Imitation, being the sincerest form of flattery, I find myself comparing Villa Khnopff with the Musee Moreau in Paris. In Moreau's case, he tore down the place where he had lived and worked for years in order to build the perfect showcase. Khnopff's project was surely the same, except that he chose his site - near the beautiful rose gardens of the Bois de Cambre in Brussels - and then built. Moreau designed his house/studio so that his works would be displayed in color coordinated settings among the objects that inspired him. I think of a photograph taken at Villa Khnopff that shows the artist's portrait of his sister Marguerite hung over a mantel on which sits a pair of crossed tennis rackets, referring to Memories, the painting of seven Marguerites, five of whom are holding rackets.
Moreau completed his museum in 1896, two years before he died and it is quite likely that Khnopff would have known of it and even visited it on one of his Parisian visits. The first indication that Khnopff had something similar in his mind was a letter in autumn of 1899 to an English friend, John Parker-Compton. Khnopff didn't draw a comparison but that wasn't his style. Among Moreau's loveliest works are a series of watercolors he made during his stays in Italy, scenes of former grandeur, now quiet and waiting to be rediscovered by appreciative eyes. Is it really that far from Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice to Saint Jan's Chapel in Bruges? I am left with the disquieting thought that Fernand Khnopff may have intended Villa Khnopff to become a museum for his work. He had the means and it may explain why he stayed there during the German occupation when so many Belgian artists fled to England that Jean Delville became the head of the League of Belgian Artists in London. What if Khnopff's feuding heirs thwarted his intentions by allowing the destruction of Villa Khnopff?
Images:
1. Fernand Khnopff - After Gustave Flaubert.The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1883, private collection.
2. Gustave Moreau - Interior of Saint Mark's Basilica. Venice, undated, Musee Gustave Moreau, Paris.
3. Fernand Khnopff - Requiem, 1907, Hearn Family Trust, New York.
2 comments:
Jane: I love your blog; it always makes me happy to lose myself in it for a good long while. I found it first through one of your posts on Pierre Bonnard, who is my favorite artist (as you can see if looking at my blog, Writing with Light), but have been delighted to find so much gorgeous art I never knew about before.
I’ve tagged your blog; see http://writingwithlight-bonnard3.blogspot.com/2012/02/ive-been-tagged.html
for details if you choose to participate; otherwise I hope you won’t mind my having directed a few more visitors your way!
Thanks for all you do.
Thank you, Christine. I share your admiration of Bonnard. It will be exciting to see all the new Bonnards that were given to the Musee d'Orsay last year. The Vuillards, too. So far, just a couple of images have been revealed.
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