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Isle of the Dead
Arnold Böcklin · Symbolism & Art Nouveau
- Artist
- Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)
- Date
- 1883
- Dimensions
- 80 x 150 cm
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Location
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Isle of the Dead shows a small rocky island rising from a dark, still sea. A rowing boat approaches its landing; in it stand a white-shrouded figure and a coffin draped in white. This is the third of five versions Böcklin painted.
A closer look
The island is enclosed by sheer cliffs in which burial chambers have been carved, and in its centre a grove of tall, dark cypresses, traditional trees of mourning, rises into a heavy sky. No explanation is given: the painting works through silence and mood alone. Böcklin himself called it “a picture for dreaming”. In the decades around 1900 it became hugely popular in reproductions, hanging in countless middle-class homes in Germany.
More by Arnold Böcklin
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- Faun whistling to a Blackbird 1863
- The War 1896
- The Plague 1898
- The Sanctuary of Hercules 1884
- Playing in the Waves 1882
- Odysseus and Polyphemus 1896