Fernand Khnopff, September 12, 1858 – November 12, 1921, was a Belgian painter, draftsman, printmaker, photographer, sculptor, and writer associated with Symbolism. Born in Grembergen, he spent part of his childhood in Bruges before his family moved to Brussels. He began legal studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles and entered the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in 1876; he also worked in Paris from 1879 to 1880.

Khnopff was a founding member of Les XX in 1883 and exhibited with the group. He met Joséphin Péladan in 1885 and later exhibited with the Salon de la Rose+Croix. From 1892 until 1914, he wrote the Brussels correspondence for *The Studio*; in the following decade, he designed costumes and sets for productions at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

His works are held by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Groeningemuseum, the Neue Pinakothek, the Musée d'Orsay, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, and other public collections.

Photograph of Fernand Khnopff, c 1900
Private Collection

Listening to Schumann, 1883
Oil on canvas, 45.9 × 40 in
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

Hydrangea, 1884
Oil on canvas, 23.6 × 18.9 in
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Portrait of Jeanne Kéfer, 1885
Oil on canvas, 31.5 × 31.5 in
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Roses and Japanese Fan, c 1885
Oil on canvas, 10 × 19.8 in
Hearn Family Trust, on loan to Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Garden in Famellette, c 1886
Oil on canvas, dimensions unknown
Fin-de-Siècle Museum, Brussels

Portrait of Marguerite Khnopff, 1887
Oil on canvas mounted on panel, 29.3 × 37.8 in
King Baudouin Foundation, on deposit at Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

Memories, 1889
Pastel on paper mounted on canvas, 78.7 × 50 in
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

Silence, c 1890
Pastel on paper, 17.4 × 34.6 in
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

I Lock My Door Upon Myself, 1891
Oil on canvas, 55.5 × 28.6 in
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Caresses/The Sphinx, 1896
Oil on canvas, 59.4 × 19.9 in
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

Acrasia, 1897
Oil on canvas, 17.7 × 59.4 in
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels (loan)

Secret-Reflection, 1902
Pastel and colored pencil on paper, 19.5 in diameter; 19.3 × 10.9 in
Groeningemuseum, Bruges

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