Hans von Marees

A prominent German artist, graphic artist and portrait painter, a master of monumental painting.

Along with Arnold Becklin, historical painter Anselm von Feuerbach and younger artist, decorator and sculptor, Franz von Stuck, he is a prominent representative of German Symbolism and the forerunner of Art Nouveau in the local meaning of the term.

Key ideas:

– The art of von Marees does not reproduce visual images, and this is the main difference between him and Impressionists. The artist is more interested in everyday life; the characters of his paintings are timeless. Both in the plots and the compositional structure of the works of the initial period, there is a clear interchange with the “archetypical classics” – the Renaissance and Poussin’s painting. However, in the early self-portraits, and especially in the double portrait, which is unusual in its design and composition, the denial of an academic smooth lifeless manner is fully revealed. Some details are only indicated by a live moving stroke.

– In his paintings, the artist sought a clear distribution of the main pictorial masses, harmonious rhythm of forms and sonority of color. At the same time, the flatness of the compositions and the contour linearity, which will be the main thing in Art Nouveau, are present in the paintings of Hans von Marees, especially in the late triptych suites on mythological themes.

– For Marees, important was the search for a sublime ideal, as he said, the “tact”, ennobling the soul of both the artist and the viewer. Therefore, the master must raise, as he said, “over external circumstances” and even “above himself.”

– The main theme of creativity Mare – a man who lives in complete harmony with nature. In order to show this, the painter found the perfect relationship between space and figures. He created the world, freed from coarse everyday life and causing sublime-romantic feelings. Concerning mythology, Mare was exceptionally original and his paintings were very different from the paintings of A. Becklin and A. Feuerbach.