Museum Review Paper: Spring in a Narrow Gorge I visited The Getty Museum on February 13th, 2020 and observed various artworks. One artwork that caught my attention was the “Spring in a Narrow Gorge” by Arnold Böcklin. Arnold Böcklin was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1827. He studied painting with landscape architect Johan Wilhelm Schirmer at the Academy of Dusseldorf, Germany. After his education, Böcklin traveled to Brussels, Antwerp, and Paris to expand her appreciation for art. In particular, his stay in Rome heightened his interest in the classics and caused tremendous stimulation to his imagination. Böcklin was initially described as a romantic symbolist by drawing fantastical mythical creatures such as ancient heroes, half-inhabited monsters, and nymphs against a beautiful Mediterranean landscape. Since the mid-1850s, myths and superstitions have been excluded, and people have developed very personal and friendly paintings. Böcklin’s art was very different from the decadent atmosphere of France. He thought that every painting should tell a story, as if one poem had to be aroused by the spectators, and also should give an impression of the music. Böcklin was nominated as a Dean of the Painting Department at Weimar Academy in 1860 and he stayed there for two years. In 1862, he returned to Rome to visit Naples and Pompeii. After 1874, he returned to Florence and stayed for 10 years. He spent his later years in Fiesole near Florence. This is when Böcklin drew the “Spring in a Narrow Gorge” that was completed in 1881. During this period, Böcklin’s paintings were mainly focused on symbolism. Symbolism is an art movement that emerged centered on France from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Unlike romanticism, the symbolism used symbolic expressions rather than direct representations. Symbolist painters primarily aimed at the visual expression of human inner emotions, desires, senses, dreams, and myths. The Spring in a Narrow Gorge has a unique atmosphere that sucks viewers with mysterious atmospheres such as mystique, fear, and tranquility. The artwork is symmetrically arranged with large cliffs and shaded trees framing an aperture of the sky at the end of a gorge. This painting also emphasizes a single tree standing brightly green. I believe that the bright color of the first tree and the edge of the sky represents the “spring” of the gorge. Cliffs and the trees at the back cannot really represent the “spring” due to their dark and shaded color. However, I think they represent the “gorge” very well. The depth and bleakness of the gorge seemed to be strongly expressed. The texture of the bright and the shaded & dark colors well represents the spring day in the gorge. It shows that the gloomy gorge can be lightened up by a bright spring day. In addition, the brightness of the birch tree at the front and the sky seems to be well balanced. It is possible that the sky and the tree could stand out too much because the color is too bright or strong. However, the sky and the tree in this painting was well blended with other cliffs and trees.
