The Girl and Death: The Art of August Brömse

August Brömse (1873-1925) was a Czech artist heavily influenced by contemporary German art and culture. His Girl and Death series originated in 1901-1902. It is believed to echo his relationship with concert singer Eisa Schünemann.

The series consists of seven paintings:

August Bromse - By the Window from the Girl and Death series
By the Window

August Bromse - In the Park from the Girl and Death series
In the Park

August Bromse - Life Escaping from the Girl and Death series
Life Escaping

August Bromse - An Old Song from the Girl and Death series
An Old Song

August Bromse - Dance from the Girl and Death series
Dance

August Bromse - I'm Coming from the Girl and Death series
I’m Coming

August Bromse - The Lost Paradise from the Girl and Death series
The Lost Paradise

“The Girl and Death” is a modern variant of the Dance of Death. Death (a skeleton) plays a fantastic song on the violin; the girl listens in fascination and dances a wild dance — death accompanies her life’s pilgrimage. Life becomes endless suffering for the girl, cursed by the deity; her love is fatefully led from the start by tragic steps. As a symbol of the first fruits of sin the girl, in some sort of hypnotic trance, flies through space on a great snake which — in some prints of the series — holds an apple in its mouth. The concept of the landscape evokes a sense of unreality and timelessness. One of the last prints brings the whole story up to date. The girl lies prostrate on a window-sill; the anonymous roof tops of the modern city appear in the background.” — Otto M. Urban, In Morbid Colors: Art and the Idea of Decadence in the Bohemian Lands

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments