Franz von Stuck

Stuck is known today for his depiction of classical mythology, exploring the stories’ underlying spirituality, psychology, eroticism and even humor. He is also, like many Symbolists, known for his representations of women as femmes fatales, frequently shown with terrifying, malevolent serpents. Like Gustave Moreau (1826–98), he returned to the same subject often; for example, he depicted Susannah six times over a twenty-year period. Throughout his career he showed great interest in experimenting with a variety of media, which led to his interest in producing comprehensive artworks, Gesamtkunstwerke. He designed matching frames for many of his paintings, and, in what is perhaps his most complete Gesamtkunstwerk, he designed all aspects of the Villa Stuck, his own home in Munich, which is now a museum.

His early fame was cemented by the founding of the Munich Secession, a cooperation of artists rejecting the conservatism of academic painting. The first exhibition of the Secession (1893) displayed The Sin (1893), one of his most successful works and a key example of German Symbolism. His national and international careers developed almost in tandem. He was awarded a gold medal at the 1893 Chicago world fair the same year he showed The Sin. In 1909, he was also granted a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale where his Medusa (1908) was selected for acquisition by the Venetian modern art museum, Ca’ Pesaro. In line with the international success of his career, Stuck showed an awareness of artistic developments both in Germany and abroad. For instance, his Wild Hunt (1899) shows the influence of Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), while Auguste Rodin’s (1840–1917) Gates of Hell (1880–1917) were almost certainly an inspiration for Stuck’s Inferno (1908), recently acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.