concept:era modern

I Lock My Door Upon Myself

Name: Provenio Provenance Knowledge Graph
License: https://provenio.art/terms

Oil on canvas (1891) by Fernand Khnopff. A reclining woman with closed eyes — modelled on the artist's sister Marguerite — framed by orange lilies and a bust of Hypnos, with the god Oedipus visible in the background. Title from a poem by Christina Rossetti. Held at the Neue Pinakothek, Munich.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor Belgian Symbolism with Khnopff's I Lock My Door Upon Myself, the defining image of Symbolist feminine introspection.

Notes

·The title is taken from Christina Rossetti's poem 'Who Shall Deliver Me?' (1866).
·The reclining figure is modelled on Khnopff's sister Marguerite, who appears in many of his most celebrated works.
·The bust of Hypnos (god of sleep) at the far right was a prized antique cast in Khnopff's collection.
·The orange lilies are a Symbolist memento mori; the figure Oedipus appears in the distant background.
·Acquired by the Neue Pinakothek Munich in 1892, making it one of the first Symbolist works to enter a German public collection.