Max Klinger was a German Symbolist painter, sculptor, and printmaker, widely regarded as one of the most important graphic artists of the late 19th century. He was born in Leipzig and became especially influential through his highly imaginative and psychologically charged etchings. His work bridges Realism, Symbolism, and early Modernism, and he had a strong impact on later artists such as Giorgio de Chirico and members of the Surrealist movement.

Klinger believed that graphic art (especially etching) allowed greater freedom of imagination than painting. Many of his works explore dreams, myth, desire, anxiety, and the subconscious, long before Freud’s theories became widely known.

 Most Popular Work: The Judgment of Paris 

The painting is based on the classical Greek myth in which Paris must choose the most beautiful goddess among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Klinger reinterprets the ancient story in a strikingly modern and psychological way. Rather than presenting an idealized mythological scene in a traditional academic style, he adds tension, realism, and a slightly unsettling atmosphere.