Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921)
Visual realism combined with a mood of silence, isolation, and reverie characterizes Fernand Khnopff's approach to Symbolism. Dissatisfied with the lack of spiritual meaning in academic and Impressionist painting, he developed a style combining precisely depicted surfaces with enigmatic states of mind. Like most Symbolists, Khnopff worked for Socialist causes. He was also a book illustrator, sculptor, designer, photographer, and writer.

Portrait de Fernand Khnopff
vers 1900
paru dans "La Belgique d'aujourd'hui"

it's strange
when i put something incomprehensible into a picture
it's usually because the form and colour interest me and because it just happens to fit in
then my friends come along
'what is that suppose to mean'
and they rack their brains for an interpretation
finding so many ingenious explanations
that i feel quite proud of all the unarticulated ideas concealed in my pictures

~ Fernand Khnopff to Alma Mahler
while walking in the Prater in Vienna
from her diary July 1899