Ernst Haeckel

Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) was a German biologist, philosopher, and artist. In 1904 he published his masterpiece, the visually dazzling Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms of Nature), a book of lithographic and halftone prints expressing his unique ideas on natural form. With the assistance of Jena artist-lithographer Adolf Giltsch, Haeckel produced one hundred plates depicting the forms of nature, focusing mainly on the intricate world of marine life, such as anemones, mollusks, and jellies. With this book Haeckel wanted to create an “aesthetics of nature” and to show how Darwin’s idea of an incessant struggle for existence was in fact producing an endless beauty and variety of forms.