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Ophelia among the Flowers

Odilon Redon (1840–1916)

The National Gallery, London

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Ophelia, the doomed heroine in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, rests within a luminous space filled with vibrantly-coloured flowers. Unlike her vivid surroundings, her face is drained of colour -- we are not sure if she is dead or only sleeping. This association of youthful, but ill-fated, beauty with dreaming, sleep and death was a popular theme in much of the art and literature of the nineteenth century, particularly in its closing decades.Odilon Redon (1840--1916) creates a deliberately ambiguous and dream-like response to Shakespeare’s drama, rather than a literal illustration of it. He makes full use of the rich colours of pastel to create a glowing and almost abstract design that evokes the effect of music.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Ophelia among the Flowers

Medium

Pastel on paper

Accession number

NG6438

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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Artist or maker

Odilon Redon

1840–1916

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