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Riccardo Bernardini has given us a beautiful introduction to the life and visual imagery of Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn, the founder and moving force behind the Eranos conferences. Fröbe-Kapteyn's contributions were significant and far reaching in the arts, spirituality, psychology, mythology, and natural sciences. The chapters of this volume serve as entry points into the rich world of her many faceted journey, including her influence on Jungian thought, and her place among many of the most important figures in 20th century European intellectual life.
For Jungians, some of the significant moments in Fröbe-Kapteyn's and Jung's relationship are captured. Jung's exclamation that he saw the devil in the black Om symbol in her paintings that were on display in the Eranos lecture hall marked a turning point in her life, as described in Bernardini's captivating narrative. Subsequently Fröbe-Kapteyn not only removed them but altogether pivoted in her expression in the upcoming series of images that represent a clear shift in her artwork, differentiating two distinct periods: the “Meditation Plates” with their chromatic contrast of abstract geometric shapes and the “Visions” period with its visionary reinterpretation of the inner world and outer nature, in figurative style .
Bernardini, as biographer, is particularly gifted in illustrating the intersection of inner and outer reality. When describing how Fröbe-Kapteyn met Rudolph Otto, who suggested the name Eranos (from Greek “banquet”) for her cultural project, he quotes her:
When, on that memorable evening in November 1932, I rang the doorbell, a creative moment began for me. … Otto himself came to open the door and everything about him welcomed me, Eranos, and the moment itself. It was both an inner and outer encounter and he himself realized the significance of the situation.