Undine 1896

Henri Fantin-Latour created this oil on canvas painting called ‘Undine’. The image is of a water nymph, from Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's novella, emerging from dark turbulent water and it speaks to the rise of symbolism in late 19th-century France. This was a cultural movement rooted in the desire to represent subjective emotions and ideas, rather than objective reality. We see this approach in the choice of subject matter: the literary and mythological figure of Undine. The art market encouraged this shift, with commercial galleries providing artists with an alternative to the official Salon system. Fantin-Latour exhibited his work in these independent venues, finding a new audience among collectors interested in these esoteric themes. Historians delve into such cultural shifts using archival sources, literary texts, and exhibition reviews, to understand how art and cultural values intertwine. It is crucial to view art as deeply embedded in the social and institutional landscape of its time.