The Sacred Grove
1882 · Oil on canvas · Kunstmuseum Basel
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)
- Year
- 1882
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 105 × 150.6 cm
- Collection
- Kunstmuseum Basel
- Movement
- Symbolism
In a clearing of pale-barked trees in autumn leaf and dark cypresses, a fire burns on a stone altar beside a still pool, where two priests in white robes kneel with their arms stretched out before it. A line of veiled figures in white approaches from the right, and a lit temple glows through the trees behind them under a pale evening sky. Böcklin finished this first version in spring 1882, during his years in Florence, and painted a second, cooler version in 1886, now in Hamburg. The Kunstmuseum Basel holds this one and notes that Thomas Mann owned a reproduction and praised it in a book of 1918.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Autumn gold, deep green and a small flame in shadow suit a living room, study or dining room with warm dark walls. Pair it with Böcklin's Isle of the Dead and hang this one at 36×24 in a dark wood frame.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Symbolism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1882)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, study or library
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 36×24. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or dark wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Sacred Grove in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Sacred Grove painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
