The Death of Ophelia (Delacroix)

The Death of Ophelia
Version in the Reinhart Collection
ArtistEugène Delacroix
Year1838
TypeOil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions37.9 cm × 45.9 cm (14.9 in × 18.1 in)
LocationNeue Pinakothek, Munich

The Death of Ophelia (French: La mort d'Ophélie) is an 1838 oil painting by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.[1] It portrays a scene from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Ophelia is shown following her descent into madness and drowning.

Delacroix and other French romantics were inspired by the work of British authors such as Shakespeare, Lord Byron and Walter Scott. Delacroix produced three different versions of the work with variations.[2] The original is now in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich [3] while a slightly larger 1844 version is in the Reinhart Collection in Switzerland.[4]

References

Bibliography

  • Allard, Sébastien & Fabre, Côme. Delacroix. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018.
  • Alston, Isabella. Delacroix. TAJ Books International, 2014.
  • Hilbornz Matthew. Ophelia Through Time: Reimagings in Art and Film. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025.
  • Larson, Dixie Lee. The Motif of the Drowned Woman in Nineteenth-century Literature and Art. University of New Mexico, 1998.