Friedrich K\u00f6nig is considered one of the defining artists of Viennese Art Nouveau and was among the co-founders of the Vienna Secession. Together with colleagues such as Josef Engelhart, Rudolf Bacher, and Maximilian Lenz, he helped shape a distinct artistic direction within the movement around 1900. His work combines the decorative elegance of Art Nouveau with the poetic imagery of Symbolism.<\/p>\n
The monumental painting \u201cSiegfried\u2019s Farewell\u201d (c. 1910) is among the most impressive works of this creative phase and can rightly be described as a masterpiece. The scene depicts the hero Siegfried on his horse Grane at the moment of his farewell to Br\u00fcnnhilde, accompanied by female figures who can be interpreted as Valkyries.<\/p>\n
Through the combination of a mythological subject, calm figure composition, and decorative coloration, Friedrich K\u00f6nig creates a visual world that links the epic atmosphere of the Nibelungen saga with the poetic symbolic language of Viennese Art Nouveau. The depiction is also closely connected to the ubiquitous reception of Richard Wagner\u2019s opera cycle \u201cDer Ring des Nibelungen\u201d around 1900.<\/p>\n
The painting is signed and bears an exhibition label from the Munich Secession on the reverse, as well as a label from the renowned Modern Gallery Heinrich Thannhauser in Munich, through which the work was once sold. According to the catalogs of the Munich Secession, K\u00f6nig exhibited in Munich only in 1912. It is therefore very likely that Thannhauser acquired the painting for his exhibition that year.<\/p>\n
Works by Friedrich K\u00f6nig are currently held in the Belvedere, the Wien Museum, and the Leopold Museum, as well as in numerous international collections such as the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
oil painting, “Siegfrieds farewell”, Friedrich K\u00f6nig (1857-1941), ca. 1910, signed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28433,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[384,385],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28451","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-general","7":"product_cat-paintings-drawings-prints","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n