KHNOPFF, FERNAND (Belgian, 1858-1921)

Fernand Khnopff was probably the most important of the Belgian Symbolists. Brought up in Bruges, he was influenced when young by reading Flaubert and Baudelaire. At first he studied law, but turned to painting under the influence of Xavier Mellery and showed his work at the Salon de la Rose + Croix. In 1879 he went to Paris where he was infected with enthusiasm for Gustave Moreau. Péladan greatly admired Khnopff's work, hailing him as 'the equal of Gustave Moreau, of Burne-Jones, of Chavannes and of Rops.'
The English Burne-Jones, with whom his work shares elements, and the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren were strong supporters of his. He had very close ties with the Belgian Symbolist Poets and adopted their themes of "silence, solitude, deserted towns." He had a fanatical interest in precision: every effect and detail in his paintings is precisely and deliberately placed.