With Grégoire Le Roy, My Heart Sheds Tears about the Past

Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921)

1889

Colored pencil with white highlights on paper

25 x 14.2 cm.

Grégoire Le Roy (1862-1941), the author, was a friend of Knopff.

The painting combines a bridge in Bruges (the Beginhof), which appears in other works, with a characteristically enigmatic picture of a young girl. The title suggests that the painting concerns the favorite Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist themes of memory, loss, and nostalgia — as does his Memories (Lawn Tennis) of the same year. [GPL]