Karl Diefenbach German Painter, Naturalist, and Symbolist
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (Born 1875) was a renowned German painter and radical social reformer. Early on Diefenbach attended the Munich Academy of Art and was deeply inspired by the works of fellow symbolist and Swiss painter Arnold Bocklin. Notice Diefenbach's darkly beautiful homage to Böcklin's famous "Isle of the Dead" including the additions of Egyptian motifs and pillars. His large scale oil paintings often depict symbolist landscapes that burst with shadow and light. The Artist's country commune Himmelhof, in Ober Sankt Veit (Outside of Vienna, Austria) centered on a return to nature, rejection of religion, and the end of monogamy. His alternative lifestyle and Mystical ideologies during this time often aroused suspicion in his native Germany but also interest in his Artwork. Diefenbach was a natural medicine practitioner living a nature-centered existence including a mainly vegetarian diet, an oddity at this time in Europe. His lifestyle rejected many traditional social norms of the age including organized religion which among other issues forced him for a time to flee to Egypt. During this relocation, Diefenbach's work focused on the ancient ruins and temples of that land. The Artist spent his later years on the Italian Island of Capri painting the beautiful yet rocky coastlines in vivid contrast.
Karl Diefenbach in Capri, 1914
As a painter, Diefenbach is an independent representative of Art Nouveau and Symbolism. Diefenbach's life was as storied as his work and both paint a dramatic and truly original picture of a master Artist.
Isle of the Dead Print work on Dark Art & Craft
Based on Isle of the Dead German: Die Toteninsel the best-known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin.
You can find more on Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wilhelm_Diefenbach and at https://strangeflowers.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/karl-wilhelm-diefenbach-paintings/
Image via https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com {{PD-US}}
Paintings on the Island of Capri at the Museo Diefenbach. Image via http://www.polomusealecampania.beniculturali.it/index.php/gli-ambienti-sangiacomo/27-certosa-di-san-giacomo-gli-ambienti/98-museo-diefenbach
Sea-nymphs in Grotta Minerva
The fairy dance 1885 {{PD-US}}
Sphinx with Undine by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, 1902 {{PD-US}}
Question to the Stars by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, 1901.
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, The Colossi of Memnon in a Sandstorm https://www.dorotheum.com
"Sphinx" Image via https://divisare-res.cloudinary.com The author died in 1913, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.
