Christophe Karel Henri (Karel) de Nerée tot Babberich (18 March 1880 – 19 October 1909) was a Dutch symbolist artist who worked in the

decadent The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...

and symbolist style of

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the ...

and Jan Toorop. De Nerée was born in

Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. Population centres * Angerlo * Babberich * Giesbeek * Lathum *Ooy * Oud-Zevenaar *Zevenaar History The earliest signs ...

(The Netherlands) on Huize Babberich, the son of Frederick Nerée tot Babberich (1851–1882) and Constance van Houten (1858–1930). De Nerée began drawing and writing in 1898. De Nerée's literary writing and art work was very much inspired by decadent and symbolist authors such as

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...

or Gabriele d'Annunzio, and artists as de Feure,

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

Johan Thorn Prikker Johan Thorn Prikker (6 June 1868, The Hague - 5 March 1932, Cologne) was a Dutch artist who worked in Germany after 1904. His activities were very eclectic, including architecture, lithography, furniture, stained-glass windows, mosaics, tapestries ...

, and Jan Toorop. He more and more focused on his art. Only posthumously, in 1916, two poems were publiced in a French periodical. In 1901, the Nerée worked in Madrid for Foreign Affairs He caught TBC, a disease that would determine his further life. In Madrid De Nerée was visited by his friend

Henri van Booven Hendrik Cornelis Alexander (Henri) van Booven (17 July 1877 in Haarlem – 31 January 1964 in The Hague) was a Dutch writer and journalist. His most successful work was the novel ''Tropenwee'' (''Tropical agony'', 1904), a thinly veiled auto ...

, the future biographer of

Louis Couperus Louis Marie-Anne Couperus (10 June 1863 – 16 July 1923) was a Dutch novelist and poet. His oeuvre contains a wide variety of genres: lyric poetry, psychological and historical novels, novellas, short stories, fairy tales, feuilletons and s ...

, who later gave a thinly veiled report of this visit in his novel ''Een liefde in Spanje'' ('A Love in Spain', 1928). De Nerée also inspired Van Booven to write his volume of (prose) poems ''Witte Nachten'' ('White Nights', 1901) and the novel ''Tropenwee'' ('Tropical Agony', 1904), the latter being a Conrad-like report of his traumatic visit to the Belgian Congo. In his turn Van Booven gave De Nerée ''The Early Work'' (1899) by Aubrey Beardsley. This was obviously great influence on De Nerée's style of drawing. Later, around 1904-1905, he developed his own unique style. The themes, usually 'femmes fatales' or clownesque figures, gold nuances and symbolism of these works often recall associations with the best wor He is one of the few 'decadent' Dutch representatives of the European symbolist movement. During his life he did not exhibit; he was a well-known society figure but few knew his art work which he mostly kept to himself. Only after his death was his work exhibited. He did sell some work during his life though. Due to his poor health, drawing and painting became ever more difficult after 1906-1907. The little known works from his later period are characterized by their colors and sometimes almost modernist compositions. He died on 19 October 1909 at 29 years of age, in the southern German town of Todtmoos. He was buried in Clarens, near Montreux. The nature of his work, the Beardsley-replication and the somewhat'decadent' character, set de Nerée naturally in a somewhat isolated position in art history. During the twentieth century, however his work was exhibited several times and "the Dutch Aubrey Beardsley" has received a welldeserved small but firm place in European art history around 1900.

Works

A selection of his works: *

as a young priest (1900) * Walden, ot usedbook cover (1900) * The beautiful image (1900) * Introduction to '' Ecstasy'' of Couperus (1900–01) * Ecstasy, finals (1900–01) * Self Portrait (1900–01) * Illustration for '' Le Jardin des Supplices'' (1899) by

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

(1900) * Love Game No. 1 (1900–01) * Black Swans (1901) * The Bride (1901) * Two Women (1901) * Salome (1901) * Owl (1903) * Clowning (1904) * La Musique (1904) * La rencontre (1904) * Sortie (1904) * Rococo (1904–05) * Rôdeuse (1904–05) * Portrait Study / selfportrait (1905) * Study of a Sulamitic (1905) * Le mauvais regard (1906) File:Inleiding tot Extaze.jpg, ''Introduction to Extaze'' (1900–01) File:Schoone beeld.jpg, ''The beautiful Image'' (1900) File:CareldeNeree5.jpg, ''Salome'' (1901) File:la musique 1904.jpg, ''La musique'' (1904)

Exhibitions

* The Hague, Kunstkring, 1910 * Amsterdam, Arti, 1910 * The Hague, d'Audretsch (with H. Daalhoff a.o.), 1914 * Haarlem, Du Bois, 1936 * Milan & München, Gallery Levante, 1970 * Laren, Singer Museum, 1974 * Kleve, Städtliches Museum, 1975 * The Hague, Staal Banker, 1982 * Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum, 1986 * Arnhem, Gemeentemuseum, 1998

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neree Tot Babberich, Karel De 1880 births 1909 deaths People from Zevenaar 20th-century Dutch painters Dutch male painters 20th-century Dutch male artists