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The Offering

1891
Not on view
A nude woman makes an offering to a portrait bust on an altar. She looks out as though the viewer’s appearance has interrupted her ritual. Khnopff’s Symbolism mixed an admiration for medieval and Renaissance imagery with a fascination with the occult, ritual, and the dream world. The altar here resembles one in his home, created to revere Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. The blue cartouche at the center is inscribed with a partially effaced NEVER MORE—a quote from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven. This soft pastel drawing is characteristic of Khnopff’s muted and hazy style.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Offering
  • Artist: Fernand Khnopff (Belgian, Grembergen 1858–1921 Brussels)
  • Date: 1891
  • Medium: Pastel, graphite, and chalk on paper
  • Dimensions: 13 3/4 x 29 1/2 in. (34.9 x 74.9 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
  • Object Number: 2007.49.651
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Hortensia, Fernand Khnopff Belgian, Oil on canvas
Hortensia
Fernand Khnopff
1884
The Dressmaker, Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer Belgian, Etching on laid paper
The Dressmaker
Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer
ca. 1863
Mars and Venus Caught in the Web of Vulcan, Bryson Burroughs American, Brown ink, black, white and red chalk, pastels, and graphite on white wove paper, American
Mars and Venus Caught in the Web of Vulcan
Bryson Burroughs
An Offering, Fernand Khnopff Belgian, Drypoint on simili-Japan; second state
An Offering
Fernand Khnopff
1900
The Reader, Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer Belgian, Etching on wove paper
The Reader
Henri Jean Augustin de Braekeleer
ca. 1870

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