Arnold Böcklin 001 - A painting of a group of people swimming in the ocean

Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901) was a painter whose moody landscapes and sinister allegories greatly influenced late 19th-century German artists and presaged the symbolism of the 20th-century Metaphysical and Surrealist artists. Although he studied and worked throughout much of northern Europe—Düsseldorf, Antwerp, Brussels, and Paris—Böcklin found his real inspiration in the landscape of Italy, where he returned from time to time and where the last years of his life were spent.