Detail of Inferno by Von Stuck in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 2018

Title: Inferno

Artist: Franz von Stuck (German, Tettenweis 1863–1928 Munich)

Date: 1908

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 50 3/4 × 82 1/2 in. (128.9 × 209.6 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Purchase, Bequest of Julia W. Emmons, by exchange; Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund; Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust and Mugrabi Family Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Pfeiffer Fund; Theodocia and Joseph Arkus and several members of The Chairman's Council Gifts, 2017

Accession Number: 2017.250


This painting’s title refers to Dante Alighieri’s medieval epic of a journey through hell. Although Stuck employed traditional symbols of the underworld—a snake, a demon, and a flaming pit—the dissonant colors and stylized, exaggerated poses are strikingly modern. He designed the complementary frame. Stuck’s imagery was likely inspired by Auguste Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, particularly the figure of The Thinker (see related works nearby). When Inferno debuted in an exhibition of contemporary German art at The Met in 1909, critics praised its "sovereign brutality." The picture bolstered Stuck’s reputation as a visionary artist unafraid to explore the dark side of the psyche.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/749639