Painter Fernand Khnopff was born on September 12, 1858, in Grembergen-les-Termond, Belgium. He died on November 12, 1921. The eldest son of a family of lawyers and judges, he enrolled in law at the Free University of Brussels at the age of 18. However, he soon lost interest in law and dropped out. In 1876, he enrolled at the Royal Académie des Beaux-Arts in Brussels to study painting. During his time at the Académie, Khnopff frequently visited Paris. There, he developed connections with Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Gustave Moreau, and his style gradually became influenced by Symbolism. After graduating, he based his activities at the Salon, but in 1883, he helped found the art association "Société des Twenties" in Brussels, where he exhibited works such as "Listening to Schumann." Furthermore, a cover illustration commissioned by writer Josephin Peladan caused a scandal when it resembled the popular singer Rose Caron, but this incident only served to increase his fame.

He was later invited by Peladan's Catholic Rosicrucian Society and began participating in Rosicrucian exhibitions in 1992. In 1998, he exhibited at the First Secession Exhibition, organized by the Vienna Secession, which included Gustav Klimt. One of the works exhibited at this exhibition was "Caress," which would later become one of Khnopff's masterpieces. This painting depicts a sphinx, a lion with a human head, embracing a hermaphrodite, and its fantastical worldview seems to have anticipated later Surrealism. It had a major influence on the style of later artists such as Klimt.

In his later years, he became a leading Belgian Symbolist artist, and in 1913 he was elected a member of the painting department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. At the same time, he also designed stage sets and architectural decorations.