Arnold Bocklin’s painting, “The Tombstone,” depicts a hauntingly serene island cemetery surrounded by dark, towering trees and reflected in still waters. A single tombstone stands at the center, evoking a sense of solitude, mystery, and timelessness. The somber palette and dreamlike atmosphere are characteristic of Bocklin’s Symbolist style, inviting contemplation on death and the afterlife.
What are we to make of this strange oddly square island, tall with moonlit cypress trees and hardwoods mirrored in motionless ebony water? And what of the dead tree, stark, bone-white, and broken, the only one sharing the space with the tombstone within the enclosure? We sense some mysterious meaning, besides just “death,” behind the symbolism. But Bocklin doesn’t give us enough to work one out. The scene stands before us, like death itself – a puzzle without a solution, a cryptic tableau with the indecipherability of a dream.
The stillness, the mirrory darkness of the water, even the hints of blue mist, the pale moss, and the spectral light reflected in the fir trees’ limbs and trunks – all of this we find in echo, intended or not, in the imagery of Sylvia Plath’s autumnal poem titled, “Dark Wood, Dark Water.”
This wood burns a dark
Incense. Pale moss drips
In elbow-scarves, beards
From the archaic
Bones of the great trees.
Blue mists move over
A lake thick with fish.
Snails scroll the border
Of the glazed water
With coils of ram’s-horn.
Out in the open
Down there the late year
Hammers her rare and
Various metals.
Old pewter roots twist
Up from the jet-backed
Mirror of water
And while the air’s clear
Hourglass sifts a
Drift of goldpieces
Bright waterlights are
Sliding their quoits* one
After the other
Down boles** of the fir.
* rings
** trunks
Arnold Bocklin, “Isle of the Dead,” 1880
The Greek island Pontikonisi, near Corfu, has been cited as a possible inspiration for Bocklin’s “isle” paintings.
Bocklin’s work, well-regarded and quite popular during his lifetime, influenced surrealist painters such as Georgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali and, in our own time, H.R. Giger, the artist who designed the sets and otherworldly aesthetic of the movie “Aliens.”
“Shades of Gray” Returns
Susan Lynn, “A Walk in the Woods,” watercolor and gouache, 11 x 14 in.
The American Tonalist Society is presenting a painting exhibition in which reverence for nature is manifest in limitless and lovely shades and majestic glory. Mist-laden dawn, purple-edged marshes, sun-dappled creeks, and assorted scenes that expand the tradition of tonalism are on view at Ballard’s Fine Art in Sheridan, Wyoming, September 4 through October 12, in “Shades of Gray: III.”
Bill Farnsworth, “Solstice II,” oil on linen, 16 x 20 in.
This exhibition features the ATS Signature Artists for 2025, over 30 invited artists chosen for their excellence in keeping the tonalist tradition alive through a variety of contemporary interpretations. Many of the 2025 Signature Artists are from the Western part of the United States. They were selected based on the quality of the work and their dedication to the genre. This collection of paintings, in various media, evoke the mood and mystery of Tonalism through an excellent blend of traditional and contemporary styles.
Thomas Kegler, “Night Fishing, 2 Thessalonians 3:16,” oil on panel, 12 x 18 in.
Participating Artists: Daniel Ambrose, Jacob Aguiar, Michael Albrechtsen, D. Eleinne Basa, Ben Bauer, Clint Bova Nancy Bush, Richie Carter, Brent Cotton, Kevin Courter, Mary C. Erickson, Bill Farnsworth, Marc Hanson, Charlie Hunter, Thomas Kegler, Erik Koeppel, Shawn Krueger, Shanna Kunz, Kim Lordier, Susan Lynn, David Lidbetter, John MacDonald, Denise Mahlke, Jennifer Moses, Deborah Paris, Ken Salaz, Hillary Scott, Dennis Sheehan, Brian Sindler, Seth Tummins, Anna Wainright, Rachel Warner, Liane Whittum, Justin Worrell, and others.
Liane Whittum, “Meadow Sunset,” oil on panel, 12 x 16 in.
Founded in 2016, the American Tonalist Society curates a biennial show devoted to a style of painting defined in the 1800s as primarily landscape and reverential toward nature, with a spiritual gloss. Painters working in this style create a mood, rather than a story, through the tonal quality of a chosen color. In 2019, the American Tonalist Society curated its first show at the iconic Salmagundi Club, dubbed “one of the grandest exhibitions that has graced these walls,” by Tim Newton, former president of the club.
With nature, atmosphere, emotion, a sense of place, and an ethereal palette at the core of their creations, the exhibiting artists will showcase approximately 60 works. A variety of sizes will be on display (up to 40 inches wide), and landscapes/seascapes are the principal subject matter. American Tonalist Society artists work primarily in oil, with pastel, watercolor, and drawing media also represented.
For more details, please visit www.americantonalistsociety.com.
