Ernst Haeckel
Although Ernst Haeckel has become better known in recent years for his controversial racial views, which apparently had been a seminal influence on Nazi ideology after his death, lately more attention has been paid to his nature paintings, which combined a naturalist’s precision and an artist’s eye.
Notably, the 2005 documentary “Proteus” by director David Lebrun, highlighted Haeckel’s fusion of science and art and made people more aware of his artistic
talents. Ernst Haeckel was born in Prussia in 1834, and he was exposed early to the natural philosophy of Frederick Goethe and the Romantic poetry of Friedrich Schiller by his parents. He enrolled in medical school in 1852 at Wurzburg, where he came into contact with some of the finest minds of the day, including physiologist Albert von Kolliker, who taught him to work with microscopes, and Rudolf Virchow, who was one of the pioneers of cell theory.
Despite completing his medical degree, Haeckel abandoned his profession and
took up zoology in 1859. Haeckel studied under Carl Gegenbauer in Jena for three years before becoming a professor of comparative anatomy in 1862 at the
University of Jena, where he remained for forty-seven years.
Through his in depth study of natural history he developed his own particular world views.
However, he deviated from Darwin’s ideas in rejecting natural selection.
Haeckel's Artselection as the process by which evolution occurred, believing instead that the environment acted directly on organisms to produce new species. While he came under fire for possibly fudging data to support his ideas as well as the lack of empirical evidence for many of his beliefs, he remained a popular figure in his native Germany. His famous quote “politics is applied biology” as well as his attempts to define a hierarchy among the
different races became one of the foundations of the ideas of National Socialism, although scholars point out that many radical factions opposed to the Nazis also adopted Haeckel’s ideas.
Haeckel’s Paintings
By the time Haeckel died in 1919, he left behind close to a thousand drawings and illustrated plates, which were collected in books such as the famous “Art Forms of Nature and Radiolaria”, which also enumerated also 4,000 new species. His artistic talent was viewed as indispensible at a time when drawing was the only way to depict flora and fauna since photography had yet to be invented.
Haeckel’s paintings were done in the Art Nouveau style, and such was his influence, that many designers and architects of his time used his designs as part of their work. Clearly, Haeckel viewed the natural world through a romantic’s eye.
Ernst Haeckel deserves to be remembered for the many contributions he made to zoology, including the discovery of thousands of new species as well as his magnificent artistic talent in depicting the natural world in minute detail.
Notably, the 2005 documentary “Proteus” by director David Lebrun, highlighted Haeckel’s fusion of science and art and made people more aware of his artistic
talents. Ernst Haeckel was born in Prussia in 1834, and he was exposed early to the natural philosophy of Frederick Goethe and the Romantic poetry of Friedrich Schiller by his parents. He enrolled in medical school in 1852 at Wurzburg, where he came into contact with some of the finest minds of the day, including physiologist Albert von Kolliker, who taught him to work with microscopes, and Rudolf Virchow, who was one of the pioneers of cell theory.
Despite completing his medical degree, Haeckel abandoned his profession and
took up zoology in 1859. Haeckel studied under Carl Gegenbauer in Jena for three years before becoming a professor of comparative anatomy in 1862 at the
University of Jena, where he remained for forty-seven years.
Through his in depth study of natural history he developed his own particular world views.
However, he deviated from Darwin’s ideas in rejecting natural selection.
Haeckel's Artselection as the process by which evolution occurred, believing instead that the environment acted directly on organisms to produce new species. While he came under fire for possibly fudging data to support his ideas as well as the lack of empirical evidence for many of his beliefs, he remained a popular figure in his native Germany. His famous quote “politics is applied biology” as well as his attempts to define a hierarchy among the
different races became one of the foundations of the ideas of National Socialism, although scholars point out that many radical factions opposed to the Nazis also adopted Haeckel’s ideas.
Haeckel’s Paintings
By the time Haeckel died in 1919, he left behind close to a thousand drawings and illustrated plates, which were collected in books such as the famous “Art Forms of Nature and Radiolaria”, which also enumerated also 4,000 new species. His artistic talent was viewed as indispensible at a time when drawing was the only way to depict flora and fauna since photography had yet to be invented.
Haeckel’s paintings were done in the Art Nouveau style, and such was his influence, that many designers and architects of his time used his designs as part of their work. Clearly, Haeckel viewed the natural world through a romantic’s eye.
Ernst Haeckel deserves to be remembered for the many contributions he made to zoology, including the discovery of thousands of new species as well as his magnificent artistic talent in depicting the natural world in minute detail.
