«Isle of the Dead» («Toteninsel») by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, 1900.
Karl Wilhelm Diefenbacn (1851-1913) was a German symbolist also known as a radical social reformist. During his period of studying at Munich Academy of Art he was inspired by the art of the Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin. It significantly influenced the following works of Diefenbach which became more dark and mystical.
The painting «Isle of the Dead», or «Toteninsel» was inspired by the eponymous work of Bocklin. It can be called an homage to Böcklin’s painting and it is almost copying its motif and composition. Here we also can see figures floating towards the lonely monumental island. There is the dark colored rower which looks like a shadow and the bright white figure leaning over the coffin. Here again we see the Böcklin’s cypresses (symbol of grief, cypresses often grow on cemeteries in Southern climate), the rocky base of the island without any grass or other trees and the tombs embedded into the rocks.
Although here instead of the Ancient Greek motifs in the architecture of Böcklin’s tombs Diefenbach uses also the Egyptian architecture and motifs. He put two sphinx between the sides of the island and also two figures with crossed arms on their chests like the mummies as if all they are protecting the dark entrance from the living.