Artwork Title: The Awakening

The Awakening, 1893

Magnus Enckell

Enckell’s palette in this picture is limited to only a few tones. With its sharply contrasting areas of light and dark, the almost monochromatic painting is a pure example of 1890s symbolist color asceticism. The picture was painted in Paris, where Enckell returned in autumn 1893. He had studied there before, when the trend of the day, symbolism, had already become a focus of interest among artists. The boy in this picture is shown in an arrested, almost petrified pose, his attention fixed firmly on his inner reality. The narrow palette also serves to draw the viewer’s attention to the essential. [http://ateneum.fi/nayttelyt-nyt/symbolism/?lang=en]
Uploaded on Nov 5, 2015 by Suzan Hamer

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