Aside

Consider listening to Chopan’s Funeral March (you’ve heard it before, especially if you’ve played Castlevania). It is part of the inspiration for this work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZY5DBmgC_A&ab_channel=HDClassicalMusic

Syncretism

A fashionable way to make art at the turn of the 19th century was to combine different arts together. Here, Podkowinski mixes art, music and poetry to paint this Nocturne. Chopan’s Funeral March and a poem inspired by it (not great translated to English) were the driving force behind this painting.

Nocturnes

Tone is supposed to take precidence over narrative in these works, popular at the time. The pallette, with restrictions to darker colors, takes mastery to get right.

Podkowinski

This was the artist’s last piece and is mentioned alongside Munch’s Scream because of its tension and carrying signals of the demise of the painter. Before it was finished Podkowinski died from Tuberculosis.