The Tragic Story of Leon Koen, the First Sephardi Painter from Belgrade: A Symbolist and Admirer of Nietzsche

Vesna Adi c

Leon Koen (18591934) was the youngest of the six children of Aron and Sara Koen, Sephardi merchants of modest means, in Belgrade. Contrary to his parents wishes and expectations, he was the rst Sephardi Jew who grew up in the citys Jewish quarter, the so-called Jalia, to live the life of an artist. Until the mid-nineteenth century, most of Belgrades Sephardi Jews, like the Koen family, lived withdrawn lives in this modest city quarter, guided by the patriarchal rules of a religious community that shaped peoples habits, customs, and behavior. However, after the Berlin Congress in 1878, when the Serbian government accepted the obligation to grant absolute equality to all its citizens without distinction of origin and religion eventually implemented in 1888 Belgrades Jews began their rapid integration into the economic, political, and cultural life of the capital.1 Leon Koen thus belonged to the rst generation of Belgrades Jews who experienced the benets and drawbacks of emancipation, both within and outside the Sephardi community.

In spite of his traditional and modest family background, coupled with harsh material conditions, already as a very young man Koen demonstrated tremendous creative powers. His thirst for knowledge and wish to become a trained artist led him to Munich where he simultaneously studied art at the Academy and attended lectures at the University of Munich as a part-time student, choosing subjects such as art history, philosophy, psychology, and physiology. The result was that he became a forerunner of modernity: the rst to introduce Symbolist tendencies into the Serbian artistic scene, still overburdened by historical painting, and the rst to translate the works of Friedrich Nietzsche into Serbian. These innovative steps, coupled with his choice of subjects which clearly reected the search for a new identity and included themes such as Serbian historical heroes, biblical scenes, symbolic images of the Wandering Jew, and pogroms on the one hand, and Nietzschean representations of Nature, on the other, shook his hometowns dormant artistic and intellectual

This article is a rst attempt to bring the art and life of Leon Koen to the attention of an English-reading audience in the West. It is based upon a paper written for the International Workshop on Jewish Art and Tradition, held at the Faculty of Philosophy, Univesrity of Belgrade, Serbia, 27 January10 February 2008. Much of the research regarding Koens development and importance for Jewish, Serbian, and European art still remains to be conducted. In the hope that this text will encourage it, I would like to thank to all who helped in its preparation, notably my teacher and mentor, Dr Nenad Makuljevic of the University of Belgrade, Dr Mirjam Rajner of Bar-Ilan University, who guided the research and writing of the original paper and this article, and the exeptionally helpful staff of the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade. Throughout the text the spelling of the artists surname will follow its Serbian transliteration Koen, used by the artist and by Serbian authors writing about him, rather then the widespread English spelling of Cohen.

1 A large group of Sephardi Jews arrived in Belgrade in 1521, immediately after the Turkish conquest of the city. Unlike the native Romaniot Jews, who at that time already dwelled along the Sava River, Sephardim settled along the Danube, in the Turkish part of the town called Dortjol, where they soon formed a Jewish quarter, the mahala (from Turkish mahalle), which they named Jalia (from the Turkish yali waterside residence). For the history of Belgrades Jews, see eni Lebl, Do kona nog reenja Jevreji u Beogradu 15211942 (Belgrade, 2001), c 45 (published also as Jennie Lebl, Until the Final Solution: The Jews in Belgrade 15211942 [Bergeneld, NJ, 2007]); Ignjat lang, Jevreji u Beogradu (Jews in Belgrade) (Belgrade, 2006; rst ed., 1926); Zbornik jevrejskog istorijskog muzeja, no. 6 (a collection of articles about the Jews in Belgrade published by the Jewish Historical Museum (Belgrade, 1992). See also Divna uri -Zamolo Stara jevrejska cetvrt i Jevrejska c ulica u Beogradu (The Old Jewish Quarter and Jewish Street in Belgrade), Jevrejski Almanah 196567: 54.

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life. Unfortunately, oversensitive and painfully lacking understanding and recognition of his efforts, already in his forties Koen sank into mental illness and ceased to paint. By then he had managed to create about one hundred sketches and canvases. Although towards the end of his life his art became better understood, appreciated, and more widely exhibited,2 during the events of World War II, the Holocaust, and its aftermath almost his entire opus was destroyed or lost, leaving us today with only a handful of his works.3 The aim of this article is twofold: in the rst part it will attempt to rescue Leon Koens shattered opus from oblivion and introduce the readers to this unknown Jewish artist and his work; in the second part it will examine Koens attitude towards Nietzsches philosophy, whose inuence as yet unexplored will be examined both in Koens paintings and in his writings. Hopefully, this will explain more clearly Koens afnities towards modern and innovative streams of contemporary art and thought and thus demonstrate his search for broad universal values, typical of the rst generation of young, emancipated Serbian Jews trying to dene their new identities, which were divided between their Jewish background, the Serbian environment, and education acquired in the West.4

Fig. 1. David and Leon Koen, photograph, ca. 1895, Jewish Historical Museum, Belgrade

Leon Koens Biography and Artistic Development

Family and friends described young Leon Koen as a goodnatured, but sometimes absentminded and melancholic, child who did not display much interest in school. 5 According to testimonies, he was usually immersed in a world of his own and already in his youth showed signs
2 For Koens pre-WW II exhibitions held in Belgrade in 1898, 1926, and 1935, see Boidar Nikolajevi , O slikaru Leonu Koenu (On Painter c Leon Koen), Male novine, no. 13 (Belgrade, 1898), 156; Rade Markovi , c Izloba slika Leona Koena (The Exhibition of Leon Koens Artwork), Vreme, 5 May 1926; Boidar Nikolajevi , Povodom izlobe radova c Leona Koena u Paviljonu Cvijete Zuzori (On the Occasion of the c Exhibition of Leon Koens Artwork in the Cvijeta Zuzori Pavilion), c Ideje 1, 23 (1935). 3 Recently much effort was expended by Nikola uica to reconstruct the entire Koen opus. See Nikola uica, Leon Koen: 18591934 [catalogue, Jugoslovenska galerija umetni kih dela] (Belgrade, 2001). c 4 From 1898 until 2001 a number of articles were written in Serbian about

of psychic hypersensitivity, which later developed into clinically diagnosed paranoia. Not nding himself in either professions or crafts, he was sent by his parents to study at a commercial school in Belgrade, tailoring in the provincial city of abac, or womens dressmaking in Belgrade, Koen constantly wandered from place to place, searching for ways to express himself. 6 While learning to draw sketches and patterns for the shop, he became aware of his artistic talent. It was then that Koen lled
Leon Koen and his art, by both Serbian and Serbian-Jewish authors. They were published either in connection with exhibitions of his work, or as independent articles in scientic journals and books, mainly exploring the formal qualities of his art. However, a monographic, indepth study of his work with an analysis of Koens unusual iconography is still a desideratum. 5 Zora Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen (The Painter Leon Koen), c c Godinjak Muzeja grada Beograda 2 (1955): 378. 6 ak Alkalaj, Leon Koen, unpublished monograph written in the 1950s. The manuscript is deposited in the Jewish Historical Museum in Belgrade, sig. 3556. R 30-1-2/1,1.

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The Tragic Story of Leon Koen, the First Sephardi Painter from Belgrade: A Symbolist and Admirer of Nietzsche

his parental house with sketches and began neglecting his work in the dressmaking shop, withdrawing at every opportunity to some lonely corner with paper and charcoal in his hands. 7 The family strongly disapproved of the direction the young mans development was taking, and the only one who showed understanding for the budding artist was his older brother David, with whom the future painter spent most of his time (g. 1). David Koen was a lawyer by profession and a passionate Serbian patriot who in 1897 published a Sermon to Serbian Youth of Moses Faith, based upon a series of sermons delivered in a number of Serbian-Jewish communities during the period of 188187. He preached in favor of the adoption of Serbian national identity, while at the same time preserving the ancestral faith.8 As a result of such dual identity advocated by his brother, the young artist developed an avid interest in Serbian history and was known to possess a copy of the New Testament in Serbian translation. 9 Moreover, he developed a syncretistic religious identity, trying to combine Christian and Jewish traditions. During 188182 Koen began taking private painting lessons with Stevan Todorovi , 10 a renowned Serbian c painter of that time. Todorovi s painting Hajduk Veljko c next to the Cannon (1860) was one of the national icons symbolizing the Serbian struggle for freedom and
7 Radmila Bunuevac, Nekoliko anegdota iz ivota Leona Koena mesto biograje (Several Anecdotes about Koens Life, Instead of a Biography), Politika, 19 May 1937: 9; Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 1. 8 In his speeches David Koen described Serbia as a tolerant state with the spirit of freedom, equality, and brotherhood, without religious or national discrimination. He believed that the Serbian nation had an important historical mission in Europe, and hence served as a commissar of the Serbian government during the Balkan wars (191213). He was killed by the Bulgarians during WW I because he refused to renounce the book he wrote during the Balkan wars: God Guards the Serbs The Apotheosis of the Serbian Genius in the Light of Religion; see Miloevic Mihailo, Jevreji za slobodu Srbije: 19121918 (Jews for the Freedom of Serbia) (Belgrade, 1995), 7479; Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 23; Simi c Milovanovi , Slkar Leon Koen: 378. c 9 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 400. c c 10 Stevan Todorovi (18321925), born in Novi Sad, studied painting c in Vienna and afterwards in Munich for a short time. After returning to Belgrade, he opened a private painting school and initiated various cultural events, not only connected to art (for example, he established the rst Gymnastic Society in Serbia). During his early career he

independence from the Turks (g. 2). During that same period, Koen spent evenings attending cultural events such as theater plays and public lectures at the Great School of Belgrade, the predecessor of Belgrade University.11 The series of lectures In Front of Shakespeare, delivered in 1882 by professor of literature Svetomir Nikolajevi , c proved to be of decisive importance for Koens further development. Despite the strong protests of his parents, he nally abandoned his dressmaking apprenticeship and decided to devote himself entirely to art, supporting himself by designing advertisements.12 In the early autumn of 1882, with the nancial help of his brother David, Leon Koen traveled for the rst time to Munich, intending to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts. Due to the rst signs of mental illness, however, he returned to Belgrade after only one year. Upon receiving treatment in the local hospital and considered cured,13during 188384 he continued with art lessons, now with a more advanced Serbian painter, Djordje Milovanovi . Milanovi was Belgrades representative of c c new inuences coming from Munich and in his still lifes combined romantic and realist approaches.14 Encouraged by success and his new teachers support, in 1884 Koen departed once again for Munich to devote himself entirely to his studies at the Academy. This time the wealthy Belgrade banker Edija Buli15 offered him a travel stipend
painted in the style of National Romanticism. Later, he stagnated artistically, painting a vast number of portraits in the academic manner, commissioned mostly by the members of Belgrades high society; see Nikola Kusovac, Milena Vrbaski, Vera Grujic, and Vanja Kraut, Stevan Todorovic 18321925 (Belgrade and Novi Sad, 2002). Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 381. The Great School of c c Belgrade was established on 13 September 1808, in todays oldest preserved Turkish building in Belgrade. See Vladimir Grujic, Licej i Velika skola (Lyceum and the Great School) (Belgrade, 1987). Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 3. Ibid. Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 381, 387. c c Edija Buli (18341907), a merchant, founder of a bank, and politician, was chosen in 1869 as a Member of Parliament by Serbias King Milan Obrenovi . He was accepted in Belgrades higher social circles c as a modern and progressive businessman, with many international contacts. See Neboja Jovanovi , Pregled istorije beogradskih Jevreja c do sticanja gradanske ravnopravnosti (History of Belgrade Jewry before they Attained Civil Equality), Zbornik jevrejskog istorijskog muzeja, no. 6, (Belgrade, 1992), 14547.

11

12 13 14 15

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Fig. 2. Stevan Todorovi, Hajduk Veljko next to the Cannon, 1862, oil on metal, 84 x 57 cm, National Museum, Belgrade c

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and, together with other prominent members of Belgrade Jewry, sent recommendations introducing Koen to one of Munichs Jewish welfare societies.16 However, this proved to be inadequate, and although his success at the Academy led to a reduction in tuition, Koen was forced to appeal to the Serbian Ministry of Education for nancial help.17 Since there is a signicant lack of known material and documents relating to Koens Munich years, this correspodence with the Serbian authorities is at the moment still of the utmost importance. 18 While on the one hand it offers valuable information about
16 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 8. 17 It seems that instead of receiving a regular stipend Koen was obliged to have lunch with a different Jewish family each day at a precisely appointed time, which drew him away from the classes and did not provide him with money for necessary accessories. He was also encouraged to turn to the Serbian authorities for help by the German

the course of Koens studies, the teachers with whom he studied, and the works he created, on the other hand it is indicative of the level of psychological difculties which he experienced due to unfullled expectations, both his own and those of the Ministry. This, alongside the lack of understanding and support of the latter, seemed to have signicantly inuenced his fragile mental balance Thus, we know that the Serbian Ministry of Education approved Koens request for a scholarship on 1 May 1885 and he signed a contract by which he accepted strict obligations to regularly send detailed reports
educational authorities who, due to Koens great success during the rst semester, reduced his Academy fees by half, expecting the Serbian government to provide the other half; see Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 89; Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 393. c c 18 In the holdings of the Archives of Serbia, Ministry of Education Department, in the folders for the years 1886 and 1890.

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about his studies. Moreover, he obligated himself to send them as well some works every six months, promising to return to Serbia after three years of studies. Such strict conditions, demanding of an ambitious artist to nish the ve-to-six year course of studies at the Academy in half the time, caused him much tension and heartbreak. The rst of Koens reports, sent to the Ministry on 17 May 1885 immediately after signing the contract, clearly illustrates this.19 In the winter of 188586 Koen once again suffered from health problems, which made him neglect the regular report to the Ministry. After receiving a written warning, he sent the detailed description of his schedule, from which we can learn the names of his professors. He mentions Karl Raupp and Gabriel Hackl, students and successors of the famous Munich painter of historical scenes, Karl Theodor von Piloty (182686). Piloty, who as the Academys director in 187486 initiated important reforms, created huge canvases inspired by historical events while combining realistic form with theatrical, articially arranged compositional solutions. Koen was himself very much inclined towards this kind of painting, since he drew his inspiration from literature and the theater. It seems that he began to work on paintings in this academic tradition already in the earliest stage of his studies.20 Despite the period of illness, part of which he spent at home in Belgrade, and the Ministrys criticism of insufcient grades and for not maintaining the schedule, by August 1886 Koen managed to send the committee his rst completed compositions. These were The Finding of Moses, The Night, and Djuradj Brankovic, portraying the gure from Serbian national history, probably inspired by a theater play which Koen had seen in Belgrade in his early twenties.21 Of those, today The Finding of Moses (g. 3) and Djuradj Brankovic are known only through the blackand-white reproductions, which show the use of costumes in order to create an Egyptian or Turkish atmosphere for the events they depict.22 During 1887 Koen was still attending the Naturschule, in the class conducted by Johann Caspar Herterich (18431905), this time achieving much better grades. He painted his fourth large composition, Hamlet, and by the

Fig. 3. Leon Koen, The Finding of Moses, 1886 (lost)

end of the year began the fth, King Lear.23 There is not doubt about his great success in this semester: the Serbian Minister of Education, after seeing Koens new Academy

19 In the report Koen wrote: I politely inform Mr. Minister of Education that Ive received the documents with the contract and the letter, at which I am honored to answer the following passages: I have taken my rst courses in the Antique school, related to preparation for the Academy itself. This school is divided into two semesters, and I am now nishing the second one, after which Ill take an exam and continue studying in Naturschule, where drawing from natural objects is taught. During the three years I will be able to complete the mentioned course in Naturschule and the course of painting, Malschule, which altogether lasts ve semesters. I will gather all my strength, and try to nish Komponirschule as well during the period of the scholarship, although it is quite impossible, because it usually takes ve or six years. A more detailed description of the studies doesnt exist, or at least, I couldnt nd it. But, if Mr. Minister would like to inform himself on the subject more extensively, I would most politely ask him to contact the rector of the Academy. With great respect, 5. (17.) V 1885. Leon Kojen, student of the Academy (The letter is quoted in Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: c c 39394). 20 Jovan Sekuli , Minhenska kola i srpsko slikarstvo (The Munich School c and Serbian Painting) (Belgrade, 2002), 3337. 21 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 398. c c 22 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 24, 3235. 23 The choice of subjects seems to conrm Koens early enthusiasm about Shakespeare and the importance of the abovementioned series of lectures by Nikolajevi for his artistic development. Unfortunately, c both canvases are lost.

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Fig. 4. Leon Koen, Self-portrait, ca. 1890, oil on canvas, 50 40 cm, Jewish Historical Museum, Belgrade

report, decided to grant him a scholarship even for the vacation months.24 As a result of the Ministrys favorable support of Koens studies, the Academy professors decided to allow him to enter the Komponirschule even earlier. They also advised him to ask for a small extra amount to pay for models, so that he could begin working on serious and elaborate compositions. 25 However, exactly when the sequence of benecial events seemed to assure Koens speedier advancement and secure artistic career, a disastrous turn of events occurred, one which would prove to be fateful for the rest of his life and work. The additional amount requested was interpreted by the Ministry as Koens arrogance and ungratefulness at the time his scholarship extension was already approved, and the decision was to refuse it. Koen, however, stubbornly refusing to accept this decision, wrote several letters of protest expressing his bitterness, that included the following bold statement: In order not to exceed the budget, you impose savings upon scholarship holders; and what about the Ministers?26 This sentence closed all doors to further government support for Koen, and in January 1890 the Ministry also withdrew the scholarship it had formerly approved. Deprived of all nancial support precisely when he had the opportunity to succeed at the Academy, Koen suffered a mental collapse. He was hospitalized in Belgrade from February until May 1890, when he was released with a

Fig. 5. Wilhelm Leibl, Portrait of a Blind Man, 1874, oil on canvas, Stdtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

24 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 11. Encouraged by this success, and confronted with the scholarships approaching expiration date, 20 August 201888 Koen courageously asked for the continuation of nancial support, as well as its increase, since he was obliged to pay for models for the nal course, the Komponierschule (uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 28). Along with the request, he submitted his works which were examined by the commission that included such renowned Serbian painters as Uro Predi and Djordje Krsti . Due to their favorable opinion, the Ministry c c approved the scholarship, but only for one year more and without increasing the sum. Moreover, he was ordered to return to Serbia already in the summer of 1889. Due to this, he wrote a new request for the scholarships extension, attaching the Academy certicate with excellent grades and recommendations from Professor Sandor von Wagner, a disciple of Piloty. In addition he sent seven nished paintings (Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 14) which we are unfortunately as yet unable to identify. The Ministry once again approved his request. 25 Ibid., 15. 26 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 29.

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The Tragic Story of Leon Koen, the First Sephardi Painter from Belgrade: A Symbolist and Admirer of Nietzsche

diagnosis of paranoia. 27 Nevertheless, he managed to somehow recover during that same year and continue his studies in Munich in the autumn, with the help of the small nancial support of his brother David. It was exactly in this period that he painted several portraits, of which only two have survived, one of them his Self-portrait (g. 4). Tending towards freer use of paint and brushwork, the application of shadows, and emphasis of the contrast between dark and white areas, especially on clothes, Koen possibly feeling free from the pressures and expectations of both the Academy and the Serbian Ministry of Education adopted the more novel, realistic manner characteristic of the circle of painters gathered around Wilhelm Leibl (18441900) and Franz von Lenbach (18361904), with whom he was personally acquainted. It seems that the former especially inuenced him, and Koens Self-portrait may thus possibly be compared with similar qualities present in works such as Leibls Portrait of Blind Man of 186768 (g. 5).28 Although achieving good results at the Academy, due to renewed nancial difculties Koen was again forced to return to Belgrade in May 1891.29 With no other option left, he once again wrote the Ministry, asking for the reinstatement of the scholarship. On 14 June 1891 he sent an emotional letter, confessing the mental collapse he had suffered because he had to withdraw from the nal Komponirschule course, where he had his own studio,
27 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 17. 28 Sekuli , Minhenska kola, 6869, 7475. Wilhelm Leibl introduced c modernity into German painting. Interested in Dutch seventeenthcentury painting, upon visiting Paris after 1869 he was inuenced by Gustave Courbet and Edward Manet. In contrast to the Munich Academy professors still concentrating on historical and literary subjects, in the late 1870s and early 1880s Leibl started to paint portraits and scenes from peasant life applying color directly, without preliminary drawings. His art provides a German parallel to French Impressionism; seeAlfred Langer, Wilhelm Leibl (Leipzig, 1961). 29 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 17, 19. 30 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 29. 31 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 19. 32 Bunuevac, Nekoliko anegdota: 9. On the importance of the Davi o c family, one of the most prominent Sephardi families in Belgrade that was active among the Jews and served in the Serbian government, see Milica Mihailovi , Dva veka porodice Hajim-Davi o in Belgrade c c (Two Hundred Years of the Haim-Davi o Family in Belgrade), Zbornik c jevrejskog istorijskog muzeja, no. 6. 1992, 24977.

Fig. 6. Leon Koen, Josephs Dream (detail), before 1898, oil on canvas, 75.5 121 cm, National Museum, Belgrade

and return to the Malschule due to the withdrawal of government support.30 His request remained unanswered. Again with the help of his brother David, Koen returned to Munich and after a repeated failure to have his scholarship renewed in December 1892 31 he severed every communication with the authorities in his native Serbia, continued to live in Munich, and earned his living by occasional pawning of his paintings. He continued to receive small nancial help from his brother as well as from Haim Davi o, a fellow Sephardi Jew from Belgrade, who c at the time served as the Serbian consul in Munich.32 Koens artistic development in the period after 1893 is of the greatest importance. Despite his poor material condition, it is the time when he began painting his most signicant compositions dedicated to Jewish and universal themes, including Josephs Dream, two versions of Eternal

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Jew, and Amor Universalis (gs. 68).33 He abandoned the realistic idiom, dark tones, and sharp drawing characteristic of the academic manner, and turned to brighter and stronger coloring, softer brush strokes, and diffuse lighting, which impart an enigmatic atmosphere to his paintings. These changes are most easily recognizable in the unnished cycle The Tragedy and Triumph of Mankind of which the two canvases known today: Autumn and Spring (gs. 910) will be discussed in detail in the second part of this article. While in Autumn Koen still employed darker, muted colors and more academic features, in Spring, which exists in a few versions, he entered his second phase and introduced pure, lighter colors in thick layers and rough texture attained by using not only the brush, but also by applying paint with knife and ngers. The dramatic lighting and very daring dissolving of the form now create an almost expressionistic work. These new features of Koens painting were probably inuenced by innovations in the Munich art scene which eventually resulted in the formation of the Munich Secession. Although Koen was not formally a member of this movement, it is known that he was close to the circles that established it. Thus, he seemed to have been personally acquainted with Franz von Stuck (18631928)34 and it is possible that he also met Vasily Kandinsky, one of his students, in von Stucks atelier.35 This information seems to be borne out by the fact that Koen participated alongside the famous Russian painter in the exhibition of the Phalanx group in 1902.36 After developing an authentic artistic expression during the last phase of his work, between 1893 and 1905, Koen also won his rst international awards and had his rst single exhibition. In 1897 he was awarded the silver

Fig. 7. Leon Koen, Eternal Jew, 18931905, coloured crayons on paper, 64 90 cm, Jewish Historical Museum, Belgrade

Fig. 8. Leon Koen, Amor Universalis, 18931905, oil on canvas, 31 47 cm, National Museum, Belgrade

medal for Josephs Dream (g. 6) at the International Exposition in Munich.37 Encouraged by this success, he decided to also present himself to the public of his native Serbia. Thus, during 1898, while residing for a while in

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33 All of these paintings have survived and are today in the Jewish Historical Museum and the National Museum in Belgrade. For additional illustrations see uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 52, 54, 58 and 71. They will not be discussed in the framework of this article since they call for a separate, in-depth study and research. 34 Von Stuck studied at the Munich Academy between 1881 and 1885, and after 1895 became one of its professors. Among his students, in addition to Kandinsky, were later famous artists such as Paul Klee and Joseph Albers. In 1892 he was a co-founder of the Munich Secession group and developed Symbolist and Art Nouveau styles. His famous painting The

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Sin (1893) introduced the n-de-sicle theme of femme fatale; see Franz von Stuck, 18631928: Werkkatalog der Gemlde, mit einer Einfhrung in seinen Symbolismus von Heinrich Voss (Munich, 1973.) 35 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 419. c c 36 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 21. Koens connection to the Secession circles is also evident in the high opinion that Fritz von Ostini, the editor of the secessionist Jugend magazine, apparently had of his art; Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 27. 37 Sekuli , Minhenska kola, 50. c

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Belgrade and designing stage sets for the National Theater, he managed to collect enough nancial means to arrange for the transport of 33 of his works, and in the autumn to open an exhibition in the National Parliament building.38 Reviews were mostly favorable and Koen was declared a new Arnold Bcklin, whose inuence on his painting was obvious to Belgrade art lovers due to the Neoromantic thematic repertoire and mysterious atmosphere of his canvases.39 Although it probably seemed that fame and success were just a step away from the artist, at that time he was suffering from serious mental imbalance. Contemporaries testied that Koens mood at the 1898 exhibition was very unstable, uctuating between furious arguing to childish smiling. 40 However, his career was still undergoing a period of ascendance which resulted in winning one more silver medal, awarded him at the International Exposition in Munich exhibition in 1899 for the painting Symphony of Spring, known today only by means of its sketches (g. 11).41 In that period, Koen was married to Josephine Shimon, a Munich Jewess in whose house he had lived as a tenant for several years. Although she seemed to offer him artistic inspiration, according to some testimonies, she resisted his marriage proposal for several years, which further undermined his mental health. During their marriage, when he was hospitalized several times, his wife was forced to sell some of his paintings in order to cover the expenses of medical treatment. This was the cause for

the complete loss of information about a signicant part of Koens opus.42 Despite his delicate health, Koen the artist was active until 1905, thus completing more than twenty years of an artistic career. After the rst Belgrade exhibition, he participated in the Third Venetian Biennale with the painting Josephs Dream,43 and for the Serbian pavilion in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 he painted The Turks Kidnap Serbian Maidens for the Harem.44 After 1905 Koen was almost completely incapable of active social life, which probably meant that his participation in the Fourth Yugoslav exhibition in Zagreb 1912 (when the canvases The Heaven and Symphony of Spring were displayed), was organized by some of his friends.45 Koen died, mentally ill and exhausted, on 15 May 1934 at the age of 75. After his death, a retrospective exhibition was opened in Belgrade on 16 February 1935 in the art pavilion Cvijeta Zuzori , showing sixty-three of c his works. Today the whereabouts of only fteen of them are known.46

Leon Koen and Nietzschean Philosophy: The Artist as the Unier of Apollo and Dionysus
Due to the combination of themes and pictorial idioms described above, which make Koen until today the only representative of Symbolism among artists from Serbia, researchers of his paintings were often keen to nd in them common features of Symbolist art: religious fervor, mystical symbols, and a fantasy world. However, a closer

38 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 27. 39 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 12. Arnold Bcklin (18271901) was a Swiss Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter trained in Germany and famous for his mythological, fantastic gures and imaginary classical architecture, creating a strange fantasy world often relating to mortality and death. See Katharina Schmidt, Arnold Bcklin (Heidelberg 2001). 40 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 2627. 41 Sekuli , Minhenska kola, 50. Today two oil sketches for this painting are c in the National Museum in Belgrade (for illustration, see uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 65). 42 Bunuevac, Nekoliko anegdota: 9; Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 26; Simi c Milovanovi Slikar Leon Koen: 400. Much has to be still researched c and learnt about this important relationship in Koens life and its inuence upon his artistic development. 43 Alkalaj, Leon Koen, 29.

44 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 67 (for the illustration, 68). 45 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 421. Koen suffered a complete c c mental collapse during WW I, when his wife abandoned him and his brother David was executed by the Bulgarians. His family brought him back to Belgrade, where he stayed in the parental home for a while. From 1920 to 1926 he spent most of his time in a Belgrade hospital or wandered semi-conscious through the city. According to testimonies, on 3 May 1926, when his retrospective exhibition organized by friends was celebrating its opening, Koen walked through Belgrades Kalemegdan fortress, arguing with himself, completely unaware of the event; see uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 23. He lived the last years of his life with the Holy Bible always in his hands, identifying himself with Jesus Christ, leaving notes throughout the book and bloody marks on the pages that describe the Crucixion; Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 400403. c c 46 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 8, 23.

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Fig. 9. Leon Koen, Autumn, 18931905, oil on canvas, 180 x 110 cm, National Museum, Belgrade

look into Koens interests and recorded statements reveals this painters profound interest in and knowledge of Nietzsches philosophy. As noted earlier, while studying art at the Academy Koen spent all his free time at the University of Munich as a part-time student, attending lectures in various subjects such as art history, philosophy, psychology, and physiology.47 Moreover, he translated and wrote about Nietzsche. Thus, in 1894 Koen published an essay in the Belgrade literary magazine Ogled as an introduction to his translation of excerpts from Nietzsches Also sprach Zarathustra, which appeared in the same publication.48 In the essay, while displaying intimate knowledge

of the cultural heroes of his time, Koen clearly pointed out just how highly he rated the provocative German philosopher: France has a typical representative of the Gallic race in [Hippolyte] Taine, just as England has decent representatives of the Anglo-Saxon race in John [Stuart] Mill and [Charles] Darwin, and maybe we could say, like the Yugoslavian tribe has it in

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47 Ibid., 7. 48 Leon Koen's, [Untitled Text], Ogled, no. 3 (1894): 9396; no. 4 (1894): 11517.

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The Tragic Story of Leon Koen, the First Sephardi Painter from Belgrade: A Symbolist and Admirer of Nietzsche

Fig. 10. Leon Koen, Spring, 18931905, oil on canvas, 51 63 cm, Jewish Historical Museum, Belgrade

Njego.49 But the work of those great men is only a wave in the ocean of development a wave which cannot provoke that mighty storm that stirs the depths of the sea []. The storm that raises those mighty waves in the sea of progress is Nietzsche.50 The essay shows us as well that Nietzsche seemed to impress Koen mainly with his elitist theory about ingenious individuals who lead mankind:
49 Petar Petrovi Njego (181351) was an Orthodox Bishop (Vladika) of c Montenegro and a ruler who transformed his country from a theocracy into a secular state. However, his main contribution is as one of the most famous of Serbian poets.

In the elite circles of mankind, in which great spirits and cultural heroes abide, we can recognize two types of geniuses. The rst are those who speed up the ow of life and give more concrete shape to the essence of their age. These are the giants that embody the perfect and complete ideal of the previous as well as the contemporary generation. They lead the events of the century and crowds follow in the path they have chosen for them. Those
50 Koen in Ogled, no. 3: 94. Since all important works of European science were translated into German very quickly after they appeared, Koen, studying in Munich and uent in German, was capable of following the most important publications, such as those written by the authors he quotes.

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who go against the ow of their age, who oppose the spirit of the time and tend to awaken humanity from its hypnotic dream, stand at the other side. The rst ones are the nal link on a cultural chain of past ages; the second ones are predecessors of the new era, who lead mankind outside the labyrinth towards the new cultural epoch which has not yet begun.51 As noted, Koens religious views were not traditionally Jewish, but rather syncretistic, even pantheistic. During his conscious and productive years he was constantly glorifying art, science, emancipation, and above all Nature. Filling out the form for residency in a Munich police station, under the reference Religious afliations Koen wrote: My religion are the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and Nature Divine! 52 He made a similar statement a few years later when he was introduced to the young Boidar Nikolajevi , an art historian and critic: Art is c all that matters, my young friend, Koen told him. Art and Nature Divine [...]. All the others are frogs, sparrows and clerks [...].53 There is no doubt that Art was the only thing Koen was living for not lart pour lart, but the type of Art preached by Nietzsche. The Art which conducted by ingenious individuals such as those mentioned in the passage from his essay tame its transformative powers; the Art which leads humanity towards constant struggle and progress, towards evolution into the bermensch, and thus represents the unique meaning of human life. As will be shown, Koen believed that it was precisely an artist like himself who was this ingenious individual possessing the power to tame Art and its transformative powers. Similarly, Koens selections from Zarathustra reveal which of Nietzsches ideas he most readily accepted.
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The few translated pages are excerpted from many and various chapters throughout the book, which shows that this specic choice bears a very personal character and exhibits deep empathy for the selected passages. Koens translations of Nietzsches text were often done entirely arbitrarily, sometimes even by changing the real context and thus transforming the words of Zarathustra into his own, personal confession. Many of them explicitly talk about a battle, a conict with the milieu, even with the family, about bitterness over contemporaries, and about readiness for the biggest sacrices even of life in order to overcome oneself. In some of the passages, translated in a very arbitrary manner, we can recognize the very philosophy of Koens life an endless devotion to artistic creation, because of which he was often on the borders of existence: To work, to create it is the greatest deliverance from all the tortures and from life. And the life of those who create has to go through many painful deaths. It is exactly such a destiny that their will demands [].54 Koen does not specify which chapters and pages he is quoting. He merges sentences which are not linked in the original text, sometimes rather paraphrases than translates, and does not give equal representation to all parts of the book. While often skipping over dozens of pages, he excerpts the greatest number of passages from the chapter War and Warriors as well as from The Flies in the Marketplace, in which Nietzsche criticizes the foolish nature of the public, which follows quacks and charlatans, while the true values remain out of its sight. Family discord or lack of understanding by people around one underline Koens choice to translate many passages criticizing the hypocrisy of the statement Love thy neighbor as thyself. His bitter view of contemporary society is shown through what he selected from the

51 Ibid.: 93. There are many similarities between these thoughts of Koen and Nietzsches theory of The Republic of Geniuses. In his unpublished notes, the philosopher claims ingenious people to be the only driving force behind the progress of mankind, in whose shadow and by whose norms common people try to shape their lives. For Nietzsche, history is nothing but spanning the intervals between the appearances and activities of Geniuses. That which happens in the meantime is just excited chattering of dwarfs producing copies made by unskilled hands; Salim Kemal Nietzsches Politics of Aesthetic Genius, in

Nietzsche, Philosophy and the Arts, eds. Salim Kemal, Ivan Gaskell and Daniel W. Conway (Cambridge 1998), 261.Geniuses are the only ones capable of giving some shape to the otherwise meaningless existence of mankind, by organizing senseless content inside of us into some kind of articial systems which have an esthetic dimension; ibid., 260. 52 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 385. c c 53 Boidar Nikolajevi , Iz minulih dana (From Past Days) (Belgrade 1986), c 1089. 54 Koen in Ogled, no. 4: 11517.

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chapter Chastity, which represents the mockery of mediocre, submissive, and envious people, and there is also a translation from the chapter The Land of Culture, which is critical of the contemporary educational system. It is particularly interesting that Koen adopts Nietzsches discontent with current political systems, considering it important to translate the sharp criticism of State in the chapter The New Idol.55 At the end of the text, Koen excerpts two sentences from their context and repeats them as the essence of the message which Nietzsche brings to humanity through Zarathustra: Ready must thou be to burn thyself in thine own ame; how couldst thou become new if thou have not rst become ashes! Man is something that is to be surpassed. Dead are all the Gods, now we desire the Superman [bermensch] to live!56 It seems however that Koen most closely accepted Nietzsches vision of the world as a giant organism which developed through the balanced inuence of two opposing artistic principles, Dionysian and Apollonian. Since, according to Nietzsche, the contemporary world suffers from the disturbance of that balance and its development turned into decadence, it is only an ingenious artist who is capable of halting this process. Koens planned cycle The Tragedy and Triumph of Mankind, of which only the paintings dedicated to Spring and Autumn are known today, illuminates these ideas.57 As a determined atheist and anti-moralist, Nietzsche denied the existence of any supernatural dimensions of reality which take care of the cosmic justice and give some sense to human life. Like Arthur Schopenhauer, whose ideas he eagerly absorbed in his youth, Nietzsche perceived the world as a cruel place without any deeper meaning. However, in contrast to the pessimism of Schopenhauer, who considered complete indifference

towards the world as the fastest possible solution for freeing oneself from the chains of reality, Nietzsche celebrated the possibility of live organisms capable of creating their own, articial systems inside the chaotic world and thus providing the meaning of existence. He held Nature to be such a self-begotten organism which emerged from the Primal Unity by the activity of an unconscious World Will. As noted, two opposing principles direct this energy the Apollonian and the Dionysian. While the rst is manifested in concrete form, clear hierarchy, cognitive activity, and individuation, the other is connected with everlasting transformation, the state of erotic ecstasy, stepping out from the personal to collective consciousness, and blurring the border between the individual and Nature. Typical Dionysian arts are thus singing and dancing, while those of Apollo are painting and sculpture, but this division does not prevent either of these principles from appearing to be represented by means of the other. It is by the constant overplay of Apollonian and Dionysian, both of which stand equal before Nature, that development and improvement of an organism or evolution takes place.58 Adopting such an approach, Nietzsche believed that all the systems by which men conduct their lives, such as science, ethics, and religion, are no more than different appearances of human artistic capabilities. Taken in such a broad sense, Art is the only thing capable of making life worth living, but it achieves this goal only if Apollonian and Dionysian principles manifested in human creativity are balanced. If one of them prevails, humanity falls into a state of decadence. Thus, by surrendering completely to Dionysian lust, it deteriorates into bestiality, and by devoting itself completely to Apollonian idealism and individuation it loses the sense of unity with Nature and, as a result, its life force diminishes.59 According to Nietzsche, the contemporary world suffers exactly from this second type of imbalance, caused by repression of the mystical, erotic, and emotional side of

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55 By doing so he was probably reacting to his own unfortunate experience with the Serbian Ministry of Education and its refusal to support him. 56 Koen in Ogled, no. 4: 117. 57 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 7677.

58 Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner, translated with commentary by Walter Kaufmann (New York, 1967), 33. 59 Ibid., 38, 4445.

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human existence in favor of scientic rigidity, accompanied by Christian demonization of Eros. In order to restore the state of balance, the world needs the activity of an artist who alone has an insight into the Primal Unity, since he is capable of establishing intuitive communication with the primordial forces of Nature. While resisting the temptation of surrendering to pessimism, the artist has to turn to artistic production and tame the Dionysian ecstasy by means of Apollonian form and symbols. 60 Thus, a successful work of art, as the result of a combination of the two, arouses in its viewer esthetic pleasure, which springs from the same root as erotic sensation; the spectator, by consuming this work of art, becomes lled with a feeling similar to being in love and thus gathers new strength to live on. Only the ingenious individuals can succeed in the reconcilement of Apollo and Dionysus through creation of beauty which is healthy, life-afrming, and imbued by the driving force of Eros.61 However, for Nietzsche the terms sick and healthy are interchangeable: the organism is healthy only if it can endure the illness. Just as overcoming a disease strengthens the organism by developing new antibodies and making the immune system more efcient, so do artistic geniuses undermine the old hierarchies in order to build new ones. Nietzsche applied this theory to his own development as well, considering it a result of overcoming certain inuences Schopenhauer and Wagner, for example.62 Thus, according to Nietzsches approach there are certain things allowed to geniuses but forbidden to the rest of society. Thus, certain behavior which might appear as pathological in others can actually be very useful for the work and development of ingenious individuals.63 When studying Koens biography, one can nd much evidence that he saw himself in the role of such
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an ingenious individual. Zora Simi -Milovanovi , who c c conducted interviews with Koens friends and family before WW II and afterwards published her research, writes: Leon Koen believed in himself, in some mission he has on this Earth, and he always distinguished himself from the others. He was often saying that deep inside of every man there is a certain number of wheels to set different dispositions in motion. I have a wheel more than the others.64 Similar statements are recorded elsewhere. For instance, in a letter to Boidar Nikolajevi in1903 Koen wrote: c I will show the world what a genius I am hiding the one which Europe of our days cannot even imagine!65 Radmila Bunuevac, who collected memories of Koens contemporaries in order to publish a commemorative article after the death of the painter, discovered that Koen requested his friends to explicitly acknowledge him as a genius, and he would be very upset if they hesitated to do so.66 Moreover, he was well known for creating incidents he talked to himself while walking the streets of the Jewish quarter, would stand up in the theater and yell at the actors, threw out his one and only patron from the atelier, spit on his friend and benefactor Haim, threw a bouquet of roses in the lap of a Bavarian princess, sat naked in his atelier, and cried aloud if a jury rejected his paintings. Perceiving his capricious temper through the prism of contemporary theories about geniuses seemed to only encourage Koen to consider himself all the more ingenious.67 Thus it seems that Koen, an enthusiastic reader of Nietzsche, readily accepted the theory about the central role of genius in the survival and development of

60 Ibid., 38. 61 Martha C. Nussbaum, The Transguration of Intoxication, in Nietzsche, Philosophy and the Arts, eds. Salim Kemal, Ivan Gaskell and Daniel W. Conway (Cambridge 1998), 64. 62 Gregory Moore, Nietzsche, Biology and Metaphor (Cambridge, 2002), 122. 63 Ibid. 64 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 403. c c 65 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 43.

66 Bunuevac, Nekoliko anegdota: 9. 67 Bearing in mind his mental illness, it is of course a challenge to draw the line between his art, philosophy, and convictions, and his fragile mental health. However, it is interesting to note the signicant similarity between Koens behavior, his interest in Nietzsches philosophy, and the art he created with those of Russian Symbolist painter Mikhael Vrubel (18561910). See Aline Isdebsky-Pritchard, Art for Philosophys Sake: Vrubel against the Herd, in Nietzsche in Russia, ed. Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal (Princeton, 1986), 21948.

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mankind. With this in mind he planned to paint Aeropag of Geniuses as the companion piece to the traditional Last Supper a decision which coincides with Nietzsches plan to replace religion with the belief of man in his own creative abilities. Apparently Koen said: When I nish with all other paintings, I am going to devote myself to the biggest composition ever painted. It is going to be an Aeropag of geniuses! I will show in Versaille, in front of the palace, the meeting of the geniuses of art, the archangels of the spirit! I will gather them around the table, just like in the Last Supper, in the glory of the eternal Sun which never sets!68

Spring and Autumn

While the plan to paint Aeropag of Geniuses was never executed, Koens existing paintings dedicated to the subjects of Spring and Autumn also clearly show his deep involvement with Nietzsches philosophy. They belong to the last phase of Koens artistic production (18931905), in which he had also published his translation of Nietzsches Zarathustra. Moreover, we learn from Simi c Milovanovi that at that time Koen was also inuenced c by the music of Wagner. In her analysis of the liberation of form and color, which marked Koens work in this period, she wrote: He [Koen] led a constant struggle against the use of dark tones with his professors. His growing pain and sadness and increasing passion towards the music of Wagner coincided with his constantly growing intensity of coloring and brush work, creating an impression of contortion and scream [emphasis mine V.A.].69

Enthusiasm about Wagner, which characterized the followers of Nietzsche almost without exception (although the philosopher later renounced his friendship with the musician and clearly denied the value of his work), cannot be a coincidence in the period when Koen was translating Zarathustra it just reafrms the painters status in the intellectual circles woven around Nietzsches philosophy. In this light it is possible, then, to understand Koens growing intensity of coloring and brushwork not as the result of contortion and scream but, on the contrary, as an expression of the strong and afrmative ow of life and art favored by Nietzsche. With the help of Simi -Milovanovi s research, c c conducted while most of Koens paintings were still existent, we know today that between 1893 and 1905 he produced more than ten copies and sketches of Spring and Autumn. Those existing today, one of Autumn and three of Spring (gs. 9, 1012), are all nished compositions, oils on canvas, although one of them is entitled Sketch for the Symphony of Spring (g. 11). All the researchers agree that those paintings reect the inuence of the German painter Hans von Mares (183787), especially of his paintings inspired by human life cycles.70 However, in view of Koens knowledge and appreciation of Nietzsches philosophy, they can be better interpreted as his personal search for a harmony between Apollonian and Dionysian principles. All three versions of Koens paintings dedicated to the subject of Spring have many elements in common (gs. 1012). They seem to include Apollo appearing in all of them in a seated position accompanied by a muse to his left playing the lyre Apollos most common attribute. The nude female character bending from the right to hand him owers seems to be Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility. In the foreground in two versions appears a
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68 Nad grobom velikog slikara Leona Koena otkriven je spomenik (The Monument was Uncovered above the Grave of the Great Painter, Leon Koen), Politika, 25 Oct.1937: 8. 69 Simi -Milovanovi , Slikar Leon Koen: 402. c c 70 See, for instance, Maares The Ages of Life (1874) or The Golden Age (1880) (Slobodan Mijukovi , Secesija i slikarstvo Leona Koena c [Secession and the Painting of Leon Koen] [Novi Sad, 1972], 105). Upon completing his art education in Berlin, Hans von Maares lived in

Munich between 1854 and 1864, where he was close to society painter Franz von Lenbach. Lenbach took him to Italy where he remained, with brief interruptions, until the end of his life, copying old masters and painting scenes of Arcadian nostalgia and classical and medieval reminiscences. Some of his paintings could be understood in the light of his homosexuality. His work is comparable to those of Puvis de Chavannes and the English Pre-Raphaelites; see Christian Lenz, et. al., Hans von Maares (Munich, 1987).

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Fig. 11. Leon Koen, Sketch for the Symphony of Spring, ca. 1900, oil on canvas, 74 102 cm, National Museum, Belgrade

bust of a dark horned gure recalling a Satyr or Pan who, as a regular participant in Dionysian bacchanalia, seems to represent the Dionysian principle, the one opposing that of Apollo (gs. 10, 12). In the version lacking this horned gure (g. 11), the harmony between those two principles is provided by cupids and animals dancing together and thus recalling bacchanalia. One of the Spring canvases (g. 12) includes on the right a gure of a bent, gray, and bearded old man carrying a scythe, recalling Death. He is leaving the scene, and thus represents the end of Winter, which brings temporary death to the vegetation and is now being replaced by the youth and beauty of Spring, symbolized by love and fertility in the form of Venus. Sketch for the Symphony of Spring (g. 11) also includes a monumental gure painted in dark

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blue tones creating a silhouette. The gure is lifting its hand and thus making the same movement as the Genius of Death in Autumn (g. 9) lifting the hourglass.71 It is anked by another dark, hooded gure standing opposite it. The spring scene is in all three cases situated on the seashore, in abundant vegetation, beneath blooming trees. In the background a round pavilion can be noticed, as an element of the Arcadian landscape. The atmosphere of the Spring paintings is calm and cheerful, and colors are pure, bright, and freely applied, forming a rough texture. Although disintegration of the form is already taking

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71 Mijukovi , Secesija i slikarstvo Leona Koena, 105. c

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Fig. 12. Leon Koen, Spring, Study, 18931905, oil on canvas, 51 63 cm, Smederevska Palanka Museum

place, every gure is still clearly dened, maintaining its independence in relation to its surroundings. By deciding to include satyrs and the Genius of Death in the depiction of Spring, Koen clearly emphasized that the Apollonian principle cannot exist separately from the Dionysian one, and that Nature rests on the equal importance of the opposites. Autumn (g. 9) seems to be visualizing a similar idea of harmony, only approaching it from the Dionysian angle. It reects a very powerful and dramatic atmosphere, further emphasized by dark and intense coloring. The scene is taking place on the riverside at dusk. On the left bank, the eternal cycling of life is depicted through the gure of a mother who, confronted with the grim gure lifting the hourglass over her head, holds a child in her embrace.

On the right bank a dazzling vertigo of gures and drapes represent the ecstatic unity of individuals and Nature through the act of Dionysian bacchanalias. Koen himself left a description of this painting, given here as the most precise explanation: This is the part of the cycle Tragedy and Triumph of Mankind. The Genius of Death holds an hourglass in one hand; by the eternal causal laws of Nature, the last moment of life approached and a sickle in another hand to mercilessly reap everything in nature. There is a female gure the universal mother. She is the personication of everything ideal, beautiful, and sublime, but still has to go to the grave. She holds a child in her arms, which

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stays behind, as a symbol of continuation and transformation of the eternal life in Nature. On the other side of the river, as a contrast, the God Bacchus and Ariadne with their bacchanalias spread joy, peace, and love, representing the harmony of eternal life.72 By absorbing the Dionysian principle, participants in bacchanalias gain strength to peacefully face the merciless side of Nature. They experience a metaphysical comfort that life is at the bottom of things, despite all the changes of appearances, indestructibly powerful and pleasurable.73 Finally, such art which successfully unites the Dionysian world of song and dance with the Apollonian means of form, color, and composition, is meant to encourage a similar process in its viewer.

The innovative elements in Koens art until now primarily limited to their formal characteristics: the purity of his color, free treatment of form, and broad usage of painting techniques were already known, recognized, and proclaimed revolutionary in the Serbian painting of his time. In this article, by analyzing Koens work notably his Spring and Autumn paintings in relation to Nietzsches philosophy, I tried to show this talented painter, stemming from the small Jewish quarter of Belgrade, as not only concerning himself with formal innovations, but also with contemporary thought and philosophy. This makes him the only artist in contemporary Serbia to follow the most challenging European literary trends of his time. Observation of this part of Koens opus in such a manner emphasizes the signicance and complexity of his entire artistic output and calls for further, in-depth research.

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72 uica, Leon Koen: 18591934, 7677.

73 Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner, 59.

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