View from the Artist's Studio Window, Rome

Max Klinger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Often considered a forerunner of Surrealism, Klinger produced fourteen major print cycles between 1879 and 1915, many of which are presciently modern in their embrace of dreamlike fantasy and the uncanny. In addition to these widely published series, he also made many small editions of single prints, such as this etching, that possess a similar uneasiness. Here, a solitary figure standing on a balcony enlivens an otherwise desolate scene in which seemingly abandoned buildings frame a curiously vacant space. This etching was made while Klinger lived in Rome. He produced several works that captured the view of the Eternal City from his studio window. This expansive view with its architectural detail suggests the young artist’s excitement at his new surroundings.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art