Museum Folkwang Collection Online
Pan im Kinderreigen
  • Arnold Böcklin

  • Pan im Kinderreigen, around 1884

  • Pan Dancing with Children
  • Mixed media on mahogany
  • 79 x 100,1 cm
  • Acquired in 1904 for the Museum Folkwang in Hagen, since 1922 in Essen
  • Inv. G 12
  • On view
  • CommentaryFollowing the Symbolist taste of his times, Arnold Böcklin devoted many of his paintings to subjects from Classical Antiquity. Dancing children with a faun and putti were featured in the composition Die ›Götter Griechenlands‹ (The Greek Gods), a work painted for the collector Adolf Friedrich von Schack in 1869. In ›Pan im Kinderreigen‹ (Pan Dancing with Children), Böcklin lends the motif a special twist by equipping the god Pan with a transverse flute instead of his more usual panpipes. The shepherds worshipped Pan as the god of the forests and fields and sought his protection for their flocks. His favorite abode was said to be on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia, where he indulged in the love of music, dance, and good cheer for which he was famous. This wild dance by naked children with garlands of flowers in their hair would doubtless have been part of such bucolic festivities.
  • Provenance1894–1897 ([...]): Arnold Böcklin | spätestens 1897–[...]: Hermann Paechter (Kunsthandlung R. Wagner) | [...]–1904: Kunsthandlung M. Goldschmidt & Co., Frankfurt/Main | 1904–1922: Museum Folkwang, Hagen | 1922–heute: Museum Folkwang, Essen
  • Obj_Id: 2,978
  • Obj_Internet_S: ja
  • Obj_Ownership_S (Verantw):Painting, Sculpture, Media Art
  • Obj_SpareNField01_N (Verantw):
  • Obj_Creditline_S: Museum Folkwang, Essen, Gemäldesammlung
  • Obj_Title1_S: Pan im Kinderreigen
  • Obj_Title2_S: Pan Dancing with Children
  • Obj_PartDescription_S (Titelerg):
  • Obj_SpareMField01_M (Alle Titel): Pan im Kinderreigen Pan Dancing with Children
  • Obj_Dating_S: around 1884
  • Jahr von: 1,874
  • Jahr bis: 1,894
  • Obj_IdentNr_S: G 12
  • Obj_IdentNrSort_S: G 0012
  • Obj_Classification_S (Objtyp): Painting
  • Obj_Crate_S: 79 x 100,1 cm
  • Obj_Material_S: Mixed media on mahogany
  • Obj_Technique_S:
  • Obj_SpareSField01_S (Mat./Tech.): Mixed media on mahogany
  • Obj_AccNote_S (Erwerb): Acquired in 1904 for the Museum Folkwang in Hagen, since 1922 in Essen
  • Obj_PermanentLocation_S (Standort): On view
  • Obj_Condition1_S (Druckerei):
  • Obj_Condition2_S (Auflage):
  • Obj_Subtype_S (Genre):
  • Obj_Rights_S:
Commentary
Artists
Provenance

Following the Symbolist taste of his times, Arnold Böcklin devoted many of his paintings to subjects from Classical Antiquity. Dancing children with a faun and putti were featured in the composition Die ›Götter Griechenlands‹ (The Greek Gods), a work painted for the collector Adolf Friedrich von Schack in 1869. In ›Pan im Kinderreigen‹ (Pan Dancing with Children), Böcklin lends the motif a special twist by equipping the god Pan with a transverse flute instead of his more usual panpipes. The shepherds worshipped Pan as the god of the forests and fields and sought his protection for their flocks. His favorite abode was said to be on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia, where he indulged in the love of music, dance, and good cheer for which he was famous. This wild dance by naked children with garlands of flowers in their hair would doubtless have been part of such bucolic festivities.