Félicien Rops

A Belgian artist, illustrator and graphic artist, a brilliant representative of the symbolism of the end of the XIXth century.

Felicien Rops stands out for the eccentricity and frankness of his paintings, which shock ordinary people and are appreciated by such famous people as Alfred de Musset, Theophile Gautier and Stephane Mallarme. Felicien Rops became famous primarily for his graphics, which makes up a large part of his artistic heritage, as well as illustrations for the Flowers of Evil by S. Baudelaire. It was said about the artist that he was “born with a pencil in his hand”, so strong was Felicien Rops’ desire to capture the world around him and express his attitude towards it.

In the artist’s hometown, in the building that is an architectural monument of the 18th century, a museum of the Belgian Symbolist artist, the collection of which contains about 1000 works of Rops, was opened.

Key ideas:

– Paintings by the Belgian Symbolist artist, full of gloomy illusions and erotic hints, reflect the spirit of those times and demonstrate the crisis of the bourgeois society of the end of the XIXth century. The artist expressed all its nasty features through the image of a beautiful and at the same time vicious woman. In the works of Rops, women are the source of all evil, the instrument of the devil and destruction for men.

– The artist uses bold contrasts of holy and blasphemous, virtue and vice in order to show the dark power possessing the world and minds of people. This topic was likely inspired by Rops’ participation in the Masonry and his adherence to occult rituals. The artist himself said, “I have a strong desire to depict the scenes and types of this century. The desire for coarse pleasures, material concerns and petty interests – all this imposed an ominous mask on the majority of the faces of contemporaries. It seems quite funny to me… “.

– Felicien Rops was an outstanding graphic artist. He thoroughly mastered the technique of lithography, etching and incisal engraving, created prints and numerous cartoon images. In most of his works, there is a mixture of sex, death and diabolical intrigues. Rops’ friendship with the Symbolist writers and poets encourages him to create illustrations for their books, the most famous of which are “The Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire.