First Encounter (from the series A Love)

First Encounter (from the series A Love) by Wilhelm Felsing|Max Klinger

Medium

Etching and aquatint; third edition; state five of seven

Dimensions

Plate: 17 1/2 × 10 7/16 in. (44.5 × 26.5 cm) Sheet: 21 7/8 × 15 15/16 in. (55.6 × 40.5 cm)

Classification

Prints

Department

Drawings and Prints

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Gift of Dr. F. H. Hirschland, 1952

Accession Number

52.586.1(2)

Tags

RosesGardensMenWomen

Art Historical Context

"First Encounter" is a captivating print from Max Klinger's renowned series *A Love* (Eine Liebe), created between 1887 and 1903. This Symbolist masterpiece, executed by printer Wilhelm Felsing, depicts an intimate moment between men and women amid lush gardens blooming with roses—a poetic nod to budding romance and nature's sensual embrace. As the inaugural plate in Klinger's 12-part cycle, it sets the stage for a fantastical narrative blending human emotion with dreamlike reverie, characteristic of the artist's exploration of love's mysteries. Klinger's style fuses meticulous realism with S...

About the Artist

Wilhelm Felsing|Max Klinger (German| ) · 1857 | 1920 |

German, Leipzig 1857–1920 Großjena|

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