Re-evaluating Octavian Smigelschi’s Angel of Death Paintings Series (1892-1912)
Re-evaluating Octavian Smigelschi’s Angel of Death Paintings Series (1892-1912)

Summary/Abstract: The Angel of Death painting series is Octavian Smigelschi’s personal reflections on a private moment, his younger brother’s death that occurred in 1892. For almost a decade he constantly evoked the image of his tormented brother, obsessively returning to this same subject. The present article reevaluates the artistic products of this series, both in the context of Smigelschi’s creative process and against the Central European artistic background. Following the genesis of his work process I identified the main key steps in the development of his subject and compositional schemes, transformed under the influence of his changing attitude towards the abovementioned event, from a particular situation to a general meditation on death.

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