Shakespeare's Ophelia has fallen into the river; she floats singing softly, hands open, the flowers she has gathered drifting around her, moments before she sinks. Millais painted every leaf and flower of the riverbank in astonishing detail; this is the most famous Pre-Raphaelite painting and one of the best-loved pictures in Britain.
Key facts
- Artist
- John Everett Millais1829–1896 · English
- Date
- 1851–1852
- Period
- Romanticism1790–1850
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 76.2 × 111.8 cm
- Location
- Tate Britain London, United Kingdom
Actual size
Compared with an adult 170 cm tall
Palette
#4A4E27#343519#68693E#1B1A0C#998D6CBackground
The scene comes from Act 4 of Hamlet: after Prince Hamlet kills her father, Ophelia goes mad and falls into a stream while gathering flowers. The Queen describes how her clothes spread out and held her up “mermaid-like” while she sang, until they grew heavy with water and pulled her down to a muddy death.
In the summer and autumn of 1851 Millais painted the background outdoors on the Hogsmill River near Ewell in Surrey, working about eleven hours a day for five months. His letters complain of flies, sun and wind, and of being threatened by swans and a farmer.
The figure was painted that winter in his London studio. The model, Elizabeth Siddal, lay in a bathtub full of water wearing an antique dress. The painting was shown at the Royal Academy in 1852 and eventually entered the Tate.
Technique & composition
The preached “truth to nature”, and Millais painted the plants so precisely that botanists can identify each species. He laid a wet white ground on the canvas and painted thin, brilliant colour over it, so that the hues glow like jewels — the leaves of and seem to shine.
and sit left of centre, the only “action” in the picture. spreads across the water, its embroidery mingling with weeds and flowers, as if she were slowly dissolving into nature.
Details
Symbolism
The language of flowers
Each flower carries a meaning: stands for death, the violets around her neck for faithfulness or early death, daisies for innocence, pansies for love in vain. Victorian viewers knew this language of flowers and could read her tragedy in them.
Between life and death
Her pose recalls both prayer and a martyr on the cross; she seems still to be singing, yet is on the brink of death. Millais froze the threshold between life and death, making the picture both beautiful and disquieting.
“Long purples”
at the upper right corresponds to the “long purples” in Shakespeare's text. Millais painted the plants the play names one by one, binding the picture closely to the script.
Stories
- Did you know?
While Siddal posed in the bath, the oil lamps warming it from below went out; Millais, absorbed in his work, did not notice, and she lay in cold water for hours and fell seriously ill. Her father threatened to sue, and Millais paid the doctor's bills to settle the matter.
- Did you know?
Siddal later married the Pre-Raphaelite Rossetti and was herself a poet and painter. Her early death has lent the picture an added air of tragedy for later viewers.
- Did you know?
Flowers that bloom in different seasons appear together. Over his five months of painting, Millais added each species as it came into bloom, so this riverbank could never exist all at once.
Legacy
Ophelia is the emblematic Pre-Raphaelite work; its extreme fidelity to nature influenced Victorian painting and photography. The image has been quoted in countless films, fashion shoots and music videos as the classic picture of tragic beauty.
