Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 – 12 November 1921) was a Belgian

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 realis ...

painter.

Life

Youth and training

Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

for generations. Khnopff's ancestors had lived in the Vossenhoek area of Grembergen

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

since the early 17th century but were of Austrian and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

descent. Most male members of his family had been lawyers or judges, and young Fernand was destined for a

juridical {{Short pages monitor