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This painting is an example of Edward Burne-Jones’s interest in investigating a mood rather than telling a story. He deliberately made his pictures enigmatic and the meaning of this painting has provoked much debate. One view is that the 18 women are spirits in an enchanted dream. The painting might also be purely decorative. The underlying idea, popularised in the 1870s by the critic Walter Pater, is that ‘all the arts aspire to the condition of music’. Paintings like this can be as much about design as meaning.
Title
The Golden Stairs
Date
1880
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 269.2 x W 116.8 cm
Accession number
N04005
Acquisition method
Bequeathed by Lord Battersea 1924
Work type
Painting
Inscription description
date inscribed
Tate Britain
Millbank, London, Greater London SW1P 4RG England
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