Hermann Linde (26 August 1863,

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

- 26 June 1923,

Arlesheim Arlesheim is a town and a municipality in the district of Arlesheim in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. Its cathedral chapter seat, bishop's residence and cathedral (1681 / 1761) are listed as a heritage site of national significanc ...

) was a German painter in the

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and real ...

style. He specialized in "

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

" themes.

Life and work

He was the son of Hermann Linde the Elder, a pharmacist and pioneering photographer. His brothers were

Max Linde Max Linde (14 June 1862 – 23 April 1940, in Lübeck) was an ophthalmologist who is best known as a patron and art collector of the early 20th century. He was an important patron of the painter Edvard Munch, among others. He had the most exte ...

, an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

and art collector, and Heinrich Eduard Linde-Walther, who also became a painter. He received his first art lessons from his grandfather

Christian Peter Wilhelm Stolle Christian Peter Wilhelm Stolle (18 October 1810, Lübeck - 11 September 1887, Lübeck) was a German decorative painter. Life and work He was born to the decorative painter, Johann Wilhelm Stolle (1780-1838) and his wife, Magdalena Catharina ...

, a decorative painter. He continued his studies at the

Dresden Academy of Fine Arts The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (German ''Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden''), often abbreviated HfBK Dresden or simply HfBK, is a vocational university of visual arts located in Dresden, Germany. The present institution is the product o ...

and the

Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School The Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar (German:Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar) was founded on 1 October 1860, in Weimar, Germany, by a decree of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. It existed until 1910, when ...

. In 1890, prompted by his brother Heinrich, who had just returned from Cairo, he took a study trip to Sicily, Egypt and Tunisia. From 1892 to 1895, he worked as a free-lance painter in India.Anthroposophie (Biographien Dokumentation): Biography of Linde
/ref> His painting "The

Langar Langar may refer to: Community eating * Langar (Sikhism) *Langar (Sufism) Places Afghanistan * Langar, Badakhshan, Afghanistan *Langar, Bamyan, Afghanistan * Langar, Faryab, Afghanistan * Langar, Herat, Afghanistan * Langar, Wardak, Afghanis ...

Procession" won the Gold Medal of the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...

. It is currently in the collection of the

Übersee-Museum Bremen The Overseas Museum in Bremen (german: Übersee Museum Bremen) is a Natural History and ethnographic museum in northern Germany. In an integrated exhibition of Nature, Culture and Trading, the museum presents aspects of overseas regions with perm ...

. In 1896, he stayed briefly in Paris and Tunisia, then spent the next two years at the artists' colony in

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. Some of his father's relatives had been interested in the

Anthroposophical Society The General Anthroposophical Society is an "association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world." As an organization, it is d ...

. After attending a large meeting and lecture in 1906, he became a member. In 1910 he met Steiner, who invited him to paint interior murals for the First Goetheanum. Linde made sketches based on Goethe's ''Märchen von der Grünen Schlange und der Schönen Lilie'' (tale of "

The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily (German title: ''Märchen'' or ''Das Märchen'') is a fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine '' Die Horen'' (The Horae). It concludes Goethe's novel ...

"). After seeing the sketches, Steiner suggested that they be done in conjunction with scenes from Steiner's modern

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

, ''The Portal of Initiation''. Linde would work on the murals and other projects there for many years to follow. He died six months after the First Goetheanum was destroyed by an arson fire. According to Steiner, he died of a "broken heart", because of all the years he had devoted himself entirely to the building and its artwork.Rudolf Steiner: Gesamtausgabe Vorträge
/ref>

References

Illustrations

* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: ''The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily'' with 12 pictures by Hermann Linde. Steinerbooks (2006)

External links

Hermann Linde @ AnthroWiki
with quotes by Steiner
ArtNet: More works by Linde
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linde, Hermann 19th-century German painters 19th-century male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century male artists Anthroposophists 1863 births 1923 deaths Artists from Lübeck

Life and work

References

Further reading

Illustrations

External links