Metamorphosis of nature

In all of Herbert Boeckl's work, the metamorphosis of nature through painting plays a special part. Boeckl sees art as "a continuation of nature", but of nature in expressionistic transformation. When he was 70, he said in his speech as Rector, on 23.11.62: "Unfortunately, the present age has only a faint idea of the splendid chances art has of 'exploiting' nature. At the end of the 19th century, the common conviction was still that art is an allegory of nature. Today, I feel, this statement is no longer enough for us. Today, one has to say that art is a continuation of nature, and perhaps even this is not enough. Art as an 'allegory of nature' concerns nature itself: it applies primarily to landscape painting, Alps, landscapes, vegetation. Art as a 'continuation of nature' concerns more. For here we see that really, art no longer belongs as directly to nature as we might like it to."

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