Fernand Khnopff and the Aesthetics of Intimacy

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe work of artist Fernand Khnopff (1858–1921) is deeply embedded in the interior. On the one hand, unlike contemporaries such as Ensor, Rodenbach or Verhaeren, Khnopff was fascinated with the aesthetics of architecture, as evidenced in the careful design of his studio/home. On the other hand, his own work betrays an obsession with interiors expressed in still-lifes and portraits, many of which depict his sister, Marguerite, in a series of elaborate poses. This article explores the role of intimacy in Khnopff’s interior scenes and artist’s house in light of the aesthetic ideals of Symbolism, together with the artistic and social context of nineteenth-century Belgium. It argues that the interior for Khnopff not only provided a platform upon which familial relationships and the place of the artist in society could be interrogated but more radically, the intimacy of home life also emerges as a place to negotiate and question interactions between the observer and observed, painter and subject, artist and viewer. This article proposes that Khnopff is not simply a Symbolist, but must also be seen as an Intimate Modernist, firmly rooted in nineteenth-century life and where, in a rapidly changing society, the home and its representation, serve to challenge aesthetic boundaries and pave a way forward for modern art.