Ophelia

John Everett Millais, Ophelia

In this blog I will be writing about one of the British art masterpieces called Ophelia. You can watch this painting at the Tate collection museum in London. This painting is a part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of English artists in the Victorian era (1837-1901). So this painting is dated in 1851 or 1852. It is 76 x 112 cm and made with oil paint.

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Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

John Everett Millias started with 6 other painters and a poet in 1848 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They wanted to change the current Art into the simple, accurate and realistic methods so they paid a lot of attention to the nature. This style was used a lot before the renaissance. You can really see in Ophelia that it is from the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood because of the details in the nature and everything looks realistic.

Ophelia

Ophelia is a character from Hamlet, a very famous play by William Shakespeare. Ophelia is in love with Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Hamlet accidently kills Ophelia’s father, he wanted to kill his uncle Claudius because he killed Hamlets father but instead he killed Ophelia’s father. Hamlet left to England. Ophelia started to get crazy because of the loss of her father and Hamlets departure. One time she sat next to a river picking flowers and she fell in the river and drowned. Some people believe that she actually commited suicide. This scene of Hamlet is obviously the painting.

Each flower has his own meaning: the daisy’s stand for innocence, roses for beauty and love and the violins for virginity. Ophelia’s pose, her arms open and her upwards gaze resembles portrayals of saints or Martyrs.