The Honeymoon, ca. 1890

About the Work

Many contemporaries were effusive in their praise of Böcklin as the greatest artist of his generation, while others criticised the Symbolist as an old-fashioned daydreamer. The scenery of his honeymoon has a hint of the fairy tale about it. It is possible that the Swiss artist was inspired to paint this picture by the marriage of his daughter Clara in Florence in 1876. The young couple - still hardly more than children - are sitting close together on a rocky cliff. With his arm outstretched, the bridegroom points across the dark abyss towards the distance, as if asking his wife to follow him there into the future.