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Your galleryIsland of the Dead
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Find the white figure and coffin in the boat, then compare their size with the cypresses and rock walls. Where does the narrow approach seem to lead?
Marie Berna commissioned this 1880 painting in memory of her late husband after seeing an earlier version in Böcklin’s studio. At her request, he included a coffin and a shrouded figure approaching the island. This Met version is painted on wood; Böcklin returned to the subject in several later paintings. The small boat gives the monumental enclosure a human scale.
Oil on wood · 29 x 48 in. (73.7 x 121.9 cm · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Symbolism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Island of the Dead
- Artist
- Arnold Böcklin (Swiss, Basel 1827–1901 San Domenico, Italy)
- Date
- 1880
- Medium
- Oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 29 x 48 in. (73.7 x 121.9 cm)
- Credit line
- Reisinger Fund, 1926
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.