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Max Klinger

On Death, Part I

1889
etching and aquatint

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

In On Death, Part One , a series of ten etchings, the Symbolist Max Klinger envisioned the ephemeral nature of life and the suddenness of death, themes that prompted one contemporary critic to call the portfolio a modern "Dance of Death." In Night , the first in the series, a man sits on a bench in an enclosed garden. A moonbeam breaks through the clouds over the sea, and on the path to the right is a lily with a fluttering butterfly. The landscape seems an extension of the figure’s melancholy thoughts, a landscape of the mind.

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More by Max Klinger

On the Street, from A LifeOn the Street, from A LifeLeuckart Certificate (Penelope)Leuckart Certificate (Penelope)Abandoned, plate five from A LifeAbandoned, plate five from A LifeThe Chronicler (recto and verso)The Chronicler (recto and verso)Abandoned, plate five from A LifeAbandoned, plate five from A LifeBär und Elfe, from the series IntermezziBär und Elfe, from the series IntermezziChrist and the Samaritan Woman, from A LifeChrist and the Samaritan Woman, from A LifeIntermezzo: Battling Centaurs (Opus IV, 4)Intermezzo: Battling Centaurs (Opus IV, 4)

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