Böcklins Bäume Nadelbäume in der Malerei

The article »Böcklin's Trees« focuses on Arnold Böcklin's landscape paintings, starting from his painting »Toteninsel« – in which consistently a dense atmosphere is evoked, often elicited by the deception of light-absorbing conifers. Transcending immediate precursors and possibly inspiring examples the author searches for comparable strategies in the history of landscape painting. It can be stated that the representation of the dark and sometimes bizarrely shaped conifers encounters regularly when the painters aim for the beholder's emotion: In the art of the so-called Donauschule, in some works of 17th century Dutch painting, and during the romantic period – when the detail remarkably often is used in poetry.