Ophelia (1887) | Alfred Stevens | Painting Art Print | Wall Frame

Artists painted an abundance of portraits of Ophelia, the well-known character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet as each of the following paintings presents a freeze-frame of one single moment from Ophelia’s life or death in which she must be observed and analyzed based solely on her physical appearance and the appearance of her surroundings.

Alfred Stevens came from a family of artists. He trained in Brussels under Francois-Joseph Navez, a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. His early work shows a debt to the Realism of Gustave Courbet and the historical subject matter of Henri Leys. He moved to Paris and achieved a reputation for his paintings of fashionable women in elegant interiors, reflecting the rich cultural mood of the last quarter of the 19th century. By the 1880s Stevens had reached the height of his career and with his reputation solid and secure his work begins to show more diversity.

The present work is part of a series of paintings of Ophelia, which Stevens painted between 1886 and 1891. Although partly influenced by the vogue for the English Pre-Raphaelites, and Stevens' close friendships within Symbolist circles, it was the artist's interest in theatre - and specifically his close friendship with the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt - which spurred him to create paintings with a literary theme. Bernhardt first met Stevens in 1873, after she determined to throw herself into painting and sculpture under his and Gustave Doré's tutelage. Bernhardt lent props - clothing, jewellery, and photographs - to the older Stevens, from which he created female portraits loosely inspired by his muse. Stevens went on to paint her in a variety of Shakespearean roles, painting, at rehearsals or in her dressing room. The costume in the present work was used as a model by Bernhardt in a later production of Hamlet.

Ophelia is posed and dramatically lit in front of an elaborate backdrop as if before an audience. She is portrayed isolated, strewn with flowers, a symbolist figure reminiscent of Botticelli's Primavera. She wanders towards the water, driven insane by the murder of her father by her lover Hamlet.

She is driven mad when her father, Polonius, is murdered by her lover, Hamlet. She dies while still very young, suffering from grief and madness. Her decision to choose death over such a life is applauded. Her womanhood is finally acknowledged and validated. Ophelia's drowning is the consummate representation of an eternal retreat into the feminine, trading an individual voice for eternal silence in union with feminine essence. In turn, her death expresses the danger of reducing an individual to his or her gender and disregarding the voice of the marginalized.

 Our professionally remastered artwork comes in two variations:

1 .Matte: 12 X 18 inch high definition quality print -  300 gsm Matte Finish Art Paper Rolled in a Shipping Tube.

2. Frame: 14 X 20 inch finest quality photo frame -  Golden/Black Frame Finish.