Anselm Feuerbach
(1829-1880)
Anselm Feuerbach
(1829-1880)Hafis vor der Schenke
Intro
Anselm Feuerbach is 22 years old when he begins work on this painting, which depicts the 14th-century Persian poet Hafiz surrounded by three listeners. Why, though, is he gazing into the distance, instead of looking at his immediate surroundings? He appears to be in the act of composing poetry, in the moment of inspiration. This elevates the artist above the community, assigning him a special position in which Feuerbach also recognizes himself.
But why did the painter select a Persian poet? The Romantics already considered the Orient the birthplace of poetry. Goethe’s »West-Eastern Divan« (1819/27), which Feuerbach read, also assigned Hafiz an important role. This painting reveals the artist’s fascination with both the exotic motif and Hafiz’s state of poetic rapture. The poet functions as a projection screen for Feuerbach, embodying the wellspring of art: inspiration.
Background
The Deutschrömer Anselm Feuerbach spent sixteen important years of his artistic career in Italy. “Rome was my destiny,” he declared. Initially speaking, however, it was his earlier sojourn in Paris that was most decisive for his artistic development. He worked there from 1850 onward as a pupil in the studio of the famous history painter Thomas Couture (1815–1879), who had risen to fame shortly before with his monumental painting »Romans during the Decadence«.
As well as being strongly influenced by his teacher, Feuerbach was also inspired by the oriental subjects of Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) and Gustave Moreau (1826–1898). He was fascinated by the works of the Persian poet Khwaja Shamsu d-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi (ca. 1327–1390), known as Hafez, which had been translated into German for the first time in 1812 and which had inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to write his West-Eastern Divan. In the large-format history painting, Hafez in »Front of the Tavern«, Feuerbach depicts the poet, who loved sensuous pleasures, in the very moment of artistic inspiration, thereby creating the prototype of the artist.
Kunsthalle Mannheim
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