“Master of Mystery” Fernand Knopf remembers in Petit-Pal

13.02.2019

At the first retrospective of the famous Belgian Symbolist Fernand Knopp, in 40 years, about a hundred of his works were collected in various techniques and genres.

 Fernand Knopf. “Art, or the Tenderness of the Sphinx.” 1896. Photo: J. Geleyns Art Photography

Here, everything that Knopf became famous for is the mysterious desert views of his native Bruges, women’s and children’s portraits, nymphs, sphinxes and chimeras. Paris, by the way, played a decisive role in the formation of a young artist, a graduate of the Brussels Academy of Arts. On his first visit to Paris, Knopf discovered the paintings of Delacroix and Ingres, and when he returned to the World Exhibition in 1877, the Pre-Raphaelites had a great influence on his style. In 1900, Knopf, who lived a hermit, set up a workshop for himself, the design of which was inspired by the aesthetics of the Viennese Secession. The workshop has not been preserved, but at the exhibition, you can see its reconstruction and plunge into the atmosphere in which fascinating visions of the Belgian symbolist were born.

Petit Pale
Fernand Knopf. Master of Mystery
Until March 17
www.petitpalais.paris.fr