Paul Camenisch: “Schweizer Narziss” (1944)
Paul Camenisch
The initial interpretation of the work by Swiss artist Paul Camenisch (1893–1970) suggests a transposition of the ancient myth of Narcissus into the setting of a contemporary bathroom.
As in the myth, Narcissus gazes inward, but here he turns his back on the atrocities of the Second World War depicted on the wall tiles.
Camenisch's allegory criticizes Switzerland's indifference and isolationism during those war years.
But the work offers another interpretation. Long before the term "homosexual" came into use, love between people of the same sex was associated with the myth of Narcissus. The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) also linked homosexual desire to narcissism.
Camenisch's painting functions as a double mirror, reflecting Swiss egocentrism while simultaneously denouncing the precarious situation of homosexuals in the face of rising fascism in Europe, thus justifying the title "Schweizer Narziss" (Swiss Narcissus).
Despite a relatively liberal legal climate in Basel from 1919 onward, and then throughout Switzerland from 1942, the situation of homosexuals at the time remained tense within a social context that contributed to the invisibility of homosexuality by forcing it into the private sphere—in this case, the bathroom depicted in Camenisch's painting.
