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 that plagues her mind. Flowers in her lap and hair foreshadow the heartbreaking moment when she will disappear into the nature surrounding her.

Waterhouse painted three different scenes of Ophelia’s last moments. His celebration of her intense emotional struggle and beautiful natural surroundings touch on the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite tradition. —DDG