Title: Ophélie
Artist: Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916)
Medium: oil on paper laid down on canvas
Dimensions: 47.8 x 54.1 cm
Description
Ophelia, Shakespeare’s tragic heroine from Hamlet, has been a recurring motif in art. Odilon Redon transformed her into one of his own mythological figures, depicting her death across a dozen works. Unlike Delacroix or Millais, who painted Ophelia’s full drowning scene, Redon focuses on a half-bust portrait. He captures the elusive instant between life and death. In this painting, the blue and mauve hues, the flowers crowning her head, and the figure’s serene beauty suggest a lingering vitality. Yet, the body’s downward drift, the arms outstretched in a final gesture, and the sealed eyes betray death’s triumph. Here, Ophelia is clad in armor with a flowing cape, as if battling her fate. But through a suspended temporality, a dreamlike and nearly surreal atmosphere, and his suggestive brushwork with soft colors, Redon ultimately implies her tragic passage from life to death.
Image Download
Image Dimensions: 3200 x 2811 pixels
Image Size: 3.28 MB
Image Format: JPG
Print Resolution: 300 dpi
Download Format: ZIP Archive
License: Public Domain, Free for Commercial Use
