Introduction

Contemporary modern art, incorporated with the essence of duality, consists of the doors to imagination which seems to be open, and this might depict stepping the stone for something else. This is the main essence of the work done by the Austrian avant-garde maestro Alfred Kubin. However, in recent years, the painting genre has experienced significant changes to include various fields of study for enrichment. The art of depicting the reality on the canvas now refers to symphony and stillness of thoughts and creativity. Braun (2019) has suggested that the great importance of the painting and its effects that live in the real world are culmination of the artist’s experiences. He has depicted the importance and the value of the art of the painting in the current scenario. As a result, the modern impressionist painting conveys the soul’s quiet ideas, which cannot be stated in words. Artists employ expressionism, impressionism, formalism, and other avant-garde genres to convey the inexpressible. Alfred Kubin was a pioneer of Symbolism and Expressionism methods, and his paintings are frequently seen as forceful representations of these two painting styles. This discussion aims to illuminate Alfred Kubin’s artwork Water Ghost from an avant-garde and symbolic (as well as impressionist and surrealist) perspective.

Body

Expressionism and symbolism are vividly found in the works of the great Austrian painter and writer Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (Holgate, 2017). He is referred to as one of the great artists of his time and has been credited for introducing Austria to a blend of surrealism, symbolic, and impressionist paintings. He battled depression for most of his life, with numerous incidents of nervous breakdowns. Kubin resorted to painting primarily to overcome the feeling of loneliness and depression. He was very upset about his mother’s death and had no one in his life. So he started channelizing his depression and melancholy into the art of painting. He was so upset that he decided not to live anymore after the death of his mother, but due to art, he was able to make his sorrow and pain come out and take the shape of exuberance. Painting became an essential part of his life and became the pivotal medium through which he communicated and conveyed his moods.

This can be considered his formal introduction to the avant-garde art movement, of which he would become a leading preacher. Most critics consider his works, such as Water Ghost, Gateway to Hell, One Woman for All, and others to be quite gloomy, ghostly, and full of his symbolic fancies (Machin, 2018). Apart from showing apathy to his paintings, many critics did not support them and always found a way to criticize them. These critics strived to create a negative vibe and discouraged Kubin, despite knowing the truth that Kubin had all those qualities that could only be attributed to a maestro.

The painting water ghost has been considered one Kubin’s gems that still are considered embodiments of reality blended with colours. Myriads of scholars and contemporary impressionist painters consider that Kubin’s painting have the potential to usher changes in the lives of those spectators who avidly strive to understand the undertones. The painting, Water Ghost, is based on the storm that prevailed during historical times. The painting has depicted the nature of the storm and compared it with the life of a melancholic individual, which could be Kubin himself (Schiaffiniet al., 2018). It projected a devastating storm is destroying nature; once it is awaken, it will destroy everything that comes in the way. It will only stop once all its strength is deemed to be emptied. He also symbolizes ghost in his picture, which is considered the main reason for the storm’s appearance and the main reason for causing it. Many artists criticized it as the part of the instability of Kubin’s psychological condition and considered it to be the part of the emotional rage that Kubin was going through. Many of the critics also felt that the ghost symbolizes Kubin’s inner turmoil that has started to rise with the onset of his youth and culminated with his mother’s death. The symbolic representation of the ghost conveys the harsh reality of Kubin’s life. The ghost has been pointed out to be the manifestation of Kubin’s own depressive disorder that eventually brought about destruction of his life, making Kubin at the mercy of fate.

On the other hand, some other critics believe that the painting does not have any duality in it and contains no hidden message. Kubin’s perspective on the painting’s significance is noteworthy here. Kubin suggested that, “You may as well ask an artist to describe his art or a poet to explain his poem. It’s a waste of time. The meaning becomes evident only after a thorough search” (Jünger, 2019). On the other hand, some experts believe that this artwork is one of the early expressions of Surrealism. As a result, it may be argued that Alfred Kubin’s painting exemplifies the traits that characterized the classic movement of the time. The painting of the Water Ghost embodies the amalgamation of expressionism, symbolism, and surrealism. This picture conveys meaning to the audience and the meaning is of a deeper notion of life. All the paintings of Kubin, hence, have a unique characteristic: all the painting consists of deep meaning or conveys a message (Ariail, 2018). Kubin, in his Water Ghost, has strived to represent the inner storm that is constantly going on in the inner awareness of each human and this turmoil is projected in this painting through the use of the metaphor of the storm and the tale of the ghost from an ancient legend. The painting depicts a transition – the human mind is transformed into the world, and the ghost is transformed into a symbol of human awareness. As a result, the painting’s character of sublimity might be attributed to the meaning it is attempting to convey.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be concluded that Alfred Kubin was referred was one of the greatest painters but was never conferred to greatness in his lifetime. Contemporary modern art, incorporated with the essence of duality, consists of the doors to imagination which seems to be open, and this might depict stepping the stone for something else. This is the main essence of the work done by the Austrian avant-garde maestro Alfred Kubin. Kubin, in his Water Ghost, has strived to represent the inner storm that is constantly going on in the inner awareness of each human and this turmoil is projected in this painting through the use of the metaphor of the storm and the tale of the ghost. Kubin’s financial wretchedness, his agonizing psychological conditions and his inability to garner support from other all culminated into a melancholic life that never permitted Kubin to rise to fame (Pelino, 2019). Kubin resorted to painting primarily to overcome the feeling of loneliness and depression. He was very upset about his mother’s death and had no one in his life. So he started channelizing his depression and melancholy into the art of painting. He was not appraised for the work during his lifetime. But, he was referred to as one of the most excellent painters of expression and symbolism posthumously. And his Water Ghost was gradually recognized as a true gem of surrealist, symbolic, and impressionist art.

References

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Braun, A. M. (2019). Impossible Communities in Prague’s German Gothic: Nationalism, Degeneration, and the Monstrous Feminine in Gustav Meyrink’s Der Golem (1915). Washington University in St. Louis.
Holgate, J. (2017, June). Homo loquens meets homo informatics, exploring the relationship between language and information. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Philosophy of Information, Gothenburg, Sweden (pp. 12-14).
Machin, J. (2018). Weird Fiction in Britain 1880–1939. PULSE: the Journal of Science and Culture, 7. Retrieved July 12, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monika-Bregovic/publication/352355980_James_Machin_WEIRD_FICTION_IN_BRITAIN_1880-1939/links/60c4d66692851ca6f8e54d3d/James-Machin-WEIRD-FICTION-IN-BRITAIN-1880-1939.pdf
Jünger, E. (2019). A German Officer in Occupied Paris. Columbia University Press.
Pelino, C. (2019). Built Heritage and Multiple Identities In Mumbai. Art and Economics in the City, 69.