The Daily Book of Art

DAY 85

A PICTURE’S WORTH 1000 200 WORDS

Ophelia

JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, 1894

 

The British artist John William Waterhouse, loosely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, was fond of portraying scenes from mythology and poetry. The painting below shows Ophelia, the heroine of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, shortly before she drowns in a brook. In the play, Ophelia loses her mind after Hamlet accidentally kills her father, Polonius.

 

Waterhouse depicts Ophelia sitting on a log, surrounded by lilies. In her paradoxical expression we see both lightheartedness and despair. The ambiguity in her body language hints at the insanity ...