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Ruin by the Sea
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The dark, ruined villa in this painting is made especially mysterious by the strange cypress trees tossed by the wind. A nervous green light flickers through the scene. Influenced by German Romantic art of the early 1800s, Böcklin was preoccupied with dreamlike images suggestive of death.
| Artist / Maker | Arnold Böcklin |
|---|---|
| Date | 1881 |
| Culture / Origin | Switzerland |
| Medium | oil on fabric |
| Dimensions | Framed: 132.1 x 102.9 x 8.3 cm (52 x 40 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.); Unframed: 111 x 82 cm (43 11/16 x 32 5/16 in.) |
| Department | Modern European Painting and Sculpture |
| Type | Painting |
About the Artist
In 1845 Arnold Böcklin enrolled for two years at the Düsseldorf academy in the landscape class of Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807-1863). Böcklin traveled to Brussels and Antwerp, where he admired Flemish paintings, and then continued his studies with the landscape painter Alexandre Calame (1810-1864) in Geneva. In Paris during the tumultuous February and June Revolutions of 1848, Böcklin copied Old Master paintings at the Louvre. Couture's (q.v.) Romans of the Decadence (1847, Musée d'Orsay, Paris) made a strong impression on… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
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