The Bridge of Fosset, 1897

About the Work

As opposed to most painters who generally used photography as a template for their compositions, the Symbolist Fernand Khnopff’s way of dealing with photography was surprisingly modern: he commissioned the photographer Alexandre to photograph a few of his paintings. He then proceeded to emphasize details of the copies in shades of grey with a crayon and sold the signed platinum prints as original artworks. Colouring the prints allowed him to vary the mood of the motif. The landscape in the painting is shrouded in a blue mist and appears much cooler than in the photographic version.