Böcklin

On occasion of the bicentennial of Arnold Böcklin’s birth, the Kunstmuseum Basel devotes a grand exhibition to the Basel-born painter. In the fall of 2027, the presentation of over 150 works will offer insight into the fascinating oeuvre of one of the most outstanding Swiss artists of the nineteenth century.

Luminous colors, creatures of legend, eerie and fantastical landscapes, and haunting portraits: Arnold Böcklin, who was born in Basel on October 19, 1827, and died in Fiesole, Italy, in 1901, was a painter, sculptor, and inventor. The Kunstmuseum Basel now houses the most important collection of his works. His best-known motif, one of the most celebrated landscape paintings in history and an icon of Symbolism, is the Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead). The five versions of the mystical motif the artist painted between 1880 and 1886 still rank among the most important works of the nineteenth-century art. The first version is in the Kunstmuseum’s collection. Four versions exist today; the fifth was destroyed during the Second World War.

This exhibition was initiated by the Kunstmuseum Basel and realized in cooperation with the Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.