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The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore once said:"Life is as gorgeous as summer flowers, and death is as quiet and beautiful as autumn leaves."

This sentence is the most appropriate to describe the famous painting "Ophelia".

Classic paintings that have been passed down through the ages often depict people's smiles, joys and anger.

It collides with countless emotional resonances, moving people.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Song of the Angels, 1881

When it comes to death, people often imagine it as hideous and frightening, and it is difficult to equate it with beauty.

But Ophelia, which depicts a woman's state before death,

But it is known as"The most beautiful drowning in art history."

John Everett Millais 1851-1852

111.8×76.2cm

Tate Britain Museum, London, UK

Over the past century, countless painters and artists have imitated this work.

To this day, it is still used as creative inspiration in the fashion and entertainment industries time and time again.

Including the recently popular third season of "Love, Death & Robots",

It is not difficult to see the shadow of "Ophelia" in the banshee scene design of "Gibaro".

In 2021, Ophelia visited China for the first time, and a special exhibition hall was set up in the Shanghai Pudong Art Museum for a separate display. The mysterious veil of Ophelia was slowly unveiled in the ancient East...

23-year-old talented painter

A masterpiece that took 11 months to complete

"Her clothes were spread out, so that she temporarily floated on the water like a mermaid, and she was still singing old songs intermittently, as if she didn't feel the danger of the situation at all, and it seemed that she had grown up in the water." - "Hamlet" Act 4 Scene 7

Ophelia is based on Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Ophelia is Hamlet's lover and the daughter of Polonius, the central figure of the conspiracy. She is innocent and kind-hearted, but is forced to be involved in complex disputes.

The complicated emotions of love and revenge for her father's murder were intertwined. Finally, she could not stand the great torment in her heart and drowned in a lake covered with flowers, withering away in full bloom.

Her death was romantic and predictable, a tribute to a love that ended in vain., she is also known as the most tragic character in Shakespeare's works.

Ophelia movie

If Shakespeare used words to describe the scene of Ophelia's drowning, then Millais's creation directly pulled the audience to the river bank where Ophelia drowned.

"A beautiful scene without beginning or end, green grass, green leaves and green duckweed, shining dead trees, dead branches and leaves and sparkling flowers, river water clearer than eyes, a beauty cleaner than river water, her eyes slightly open, lips slightly parted and hands spread out, everything is the same as when she was alive - dead but still alive."

The painting uses large swathes of bright colors, with a whole expanse of emerald green and dots of colorful flowers filling the entire painting. The woman's clothes are spread out, lying quietly in the lake, her skin as white as snow, and she seems to be on the verge of drowning.

But there is no trace of fear on her face; she slightly opens her lips and even sings softly; emotions of sighs and sorrow flow out from the rich atmosphere of the painting.

This painting is by John Everett Millais.

As the youngest and most talented of the three founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Millais completed this classic work in 11 months at the age of 23, and became famous since then.

The reason why "Ophelia" can become a classic is thatOn the one hand, it comes from his grasp of the beauty of portraits, and on the other hand, he incorporates the emotional details of literary works into his paintings.

Before Millais, many painters chose to spend a lot of time and energy on depicting characters with heavy colors, while the landscape was usually only used as a backdrop.

1777-1778, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sarah Campbell

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1669

But Millais was different. He believed that landscape and characters were equally important. He devoted a lot of effort to depicting the landscape, and determined the order of creation: landscape first and characters later.

After that, he spent5 monthsTime to sketch by the Hogsmere River in southeast England.Six days a week, 11 hours a day without interruption.

"I have been tortured by two swans. They always appear at my workplace and try to eat the water plants in the lower left corner of the canvas... I am often in danger of being blown into the river by strong winds, which makes me feel similar to Ophelia." - Millais wrote to a friend

Hogsmere River

But it seems that this did not become an obstacle to his creation. Millais paid strict attention to the details of every flower and every blade of grass. Even the stretching and changes of water plants in the water were drawn so delicately:“[Millett’s] flowers were so lifelike that a professor of botany who could not take his students to the countryside took them to see the flowers in Ophelia, for they were as instructive as nature itself.”

At the same time, Millais also uses symbolism from the natural world to further convey Ophelia’s story and emotions.

In "Ophelia", every corner and every detail is worth savoring.

weeping willowLeaning on Ophelia represents unrequited love.

Lower left cornerVallisneria, whose name seems to have conveyed Ophelia's story.

ProspectWater ButtercupIt symbolizes Hamlet's cruelty and betrayal towards Ophelia.

Floating on the waterdaisy, allowing us to see Ophelia's former innocence; the brightRed poppyIt represents death today.

And floating on Ophelia's skirtpansyIt is the flowers she collects in the fields in the play that represent grief and also mean futile love.

Ophelia'sPink Roseand growing on the riverbankWhite wild rose, referring to youth, love and beauty. Ophelia is also called "the rose of May" in the play, but the appearance of these flowers in the picture only makes people feel more sad and sorrowful.

Ophelia's neckVioletIn Hamlet, it was mentioned: "I wanted to give you some violets, but they all withered when my father died." Violets are a symbol of loyalty, but they also symbolize chastity and death.

Light blue on the river bankDo not forget meThe meaning is already contained in its name.

There is also a hiddenRobin。

The robin is also known as the "bird of God". According to British legend, when Jesus was crucified, the robin flew to Jesus' ear and sang to relieve his pain. The red feathers on the robin's chest were stained with Jesus' blood.

I don’t know whether the robin in the picture is singing praises to Ophelia’s innocence and beauty, or singing a beautiful song for her.

After Millais finished the landscape, he began to work on the portrait. But he was in a dilemma because Ophelia was floating in the lake, and no one could bear to let a young woman soak in the lake for so long.Model mimics Ophelia floating in bathtub。

So Millais invited a 19-year-old young woman, Elizabeth Siddal, to be a model in the hat shop she often visited.

Siddal wore an old dress with silver embroidery that Millais bought for £4 from a second-hand shop and lay in a bathtub filled with water for several months so that he could observe how her hair and fabric changed as they sank in the water.

In order to make Siddel feel better, Mile lit candles under the bathtub to keep the water warm.

Sidell modeling scene

The old dress with silver embroidery that was later painted into the painting

But Millais was extremely focused when painting. Once the lights went out, and Siddal didn't want to interrupt him, so he floated in the ice water for several hours before coming out. He later caught a cold and contracted tuberculosis.

In a fit of anger, Sidell's father took Miley to court and asked Miley to pay for his daughter's medical expenses.

In this way, after more than 11 months of twists and turns, Millais's Ophelia was finally published. People were amazed at this beautiful tragedy."Ophelia" has also become the most important representative work of the Western art school - Pre-Raphaelite.

Millais's sketch of Ophelia's head

Millais' sketch of Ophelia

In everyone's heart

There is an Oselia

After the appearance of Millais' "Ophelia", many later painters were influenced by it and chose the same subject for their creations. Many excellent works emerged and also gave "Ophelia" different life colors.

1890, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Ophelia

1895, Paul Albert Steck, Ophelia

Among them, the British painter John William Waterhouse, under the influence of Millais, created three paintings of Ophelia. Compared with Millais' bold color stacking, the color saturation in Waterhouse's paintings is not high.The style is more solemn and sad, with a sense of mystery.

1889, John William Waterhouse, Ophelia

The second version of Ophelia discarded some of the emotional coloring and was moreThe more they are, the more pure and beautiful the female characteristics are.Ophelia here is dressed in more gorgeous clothes, quietly washing herself beside the lotus pond, with her eyes slightly lowered, carrying a girl's thoughts, showing the feminine beauty and holiness.

1894, John William Waterhouse, Ophelia

In 1910, the 61-year-old Waterhouse may have had clearer thoughts about the characters and added more facial expressions in his depictions.

Ophelia leaned her hand against the tree and looked forward. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and there was resentment and sadness in her eyes.It seems that he is dissatisfied with the unfairness of fate and has become tired of the world.

1910, John William Waterhouse, Ophelia

In addition, German painter Friedrich Heise also painted "Ophelia" in 1900. He grasped the facial details of the character just right. She floated on the water with a calm and composed expression, waiting for the announcement of death.

1990, Frederick Heizer, Ophelia

Alexandre Cabanel, French academic painterMore emphasis is placed on the expression of body parts in the painting。

Cabanel chose the scene of Ophelia falling from a tree into the water. In the picture, she stretched out her arms, mechanically trying to grab something, without panic in her expression, and her eyes were already dull. At this moment, she no longer struggled in her heart, and had made a choice in her life.

Alexandre Cabanel, Ophelia, 1883

Constantin Monnier, whose style was very different from all previous painters, also created "Ophelia" in the 1890s.

There are no flowers, green leaves and other elements, and the gray and black colors cover the entire picture, giving people a depressing atmosphere. One of her hands is limp on the lake, and the other hand is placed in front of her body as if she wants to grab something.Perhaps when she really faces death, she will also feel fear and have ties that she cannot let go of.

1890, Constantin Monnier, Ophelia

Odilon Redon, a leading figure of the Symbolist school of painting in the late 19th century, also used "Ophelia" as his theme, but created a more dreamy and poetic world.

1903, Odilon Redon, Ophelia

When romance meets deathThe collision of contradictory elements has become a favorite theme of artists.

There are countless depictions of Ophelia throughout history, but each person's depiction of her will be biased based on different perspectives.

The reason why art is called art is because it has the power to move people's hearts.

Even after tens of millions of years, you can still feel the author's deepest thoughts and emotions through a painting or a piece of text, and it will cause ripples in your heart.

In this way, perhaps Ophelia is dead, but in a way, she exists forever.

World Art Selection