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Ophelia is Millais's most popular work. Millais as a Pre-Raphaelite style artist paints a darker style similar to that of the paintings created in the 16th century. Although this was no longer popular in Millais's time the art collector John Ruskin did like his work. As a result of the patronage of John Ruskin, Millais's work became popular as did the whole pre-Raphaelite art movement. The darkness is shown in Ophelia, as Ophelia drowns and slowly submerges into the dark water, there is sadness. The Victorians were familiar with this type of art and it resonated with them. It is this mixture between Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian art that made Millais's work so popular. For a Pre-Raphaelite style of painting, this is considered a masterpiece.
Purpose: By combining his interest in the Shakespearean subject and his attention to detail with the natural elements surrounding the subject, Millais created an unforgettable painting, admired still to this day. Millais’ technical skill and artistic vision are showcased as he depicts a mad-driven Ophelia drowning herself. Being pulled down by the weight of her dress, Ophelia appears to be slowly sinking. Various symbolic flowers stated in Shakespeare’s writing enclose Ophelia.
Ophelia is the main character in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. Driven mad by the murder of her father, Ophelia suffers, is desperate, and dies or commits suicide whilst she is very young. She dies by drowning in the river she fell in whilst picking flowers.
The Ophelia painted by Millais accepts her fate by turning her hands up to the sky and letting the river drag her down to her death. Around her, there are floating symbolic flowers (mentioned by Shakespeare). Faithfulness is symbolized by the violets around her neck along with the willows and nettles which in the Victorian period symbolized pain and forsaken love.
Being an early Pre-Raphaelite painting, Millais’ piece demonstrates what the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood of artists wanted to represent. A very detailed subject matter with, the symbolism of nature and an array of colors. Ophelia’s melodramatic death often appeared as a popular topic in the Victorian era when Shakespeare was very popular.
The contrast of the green and warm natural colors of the foliage and flowers in comparison to Ophelia’s pale face highlights the desperate gloom and sadness emitted by the painting. These themes and combinations were common in Victorian art. The painting was worked on in two stages between 1851 and 1852. The figure representing Ophelia was painted in London in Millais’ street studio and the natural environment for the painting was from Hogsmill River at Ewell in Surrey. It was unusual for artists in this time to complete their work in the open air outside, but this is what Millais and his Pre-Raphaelite friends did. In those times, the landscape was regarded as the less important and often painted second. Millais saw the figure and landscape as of equal importance and therefore painted Ophelia first.
The model used for Ophelia was nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Siddal who was discovered by a friend. She married Rossetti, Millais’ friend in 1860. Millais asked Siddal to lie in a bathtub to act as Ophelia so that he could perfectly capture her long hair and gold dress underwater. This detailed work took Millais four months.
The intensity of the flower’s colors and the bright green show a great contrast against the darkness of the water that she lies in. Along with her pale, almost white face, we get a change in values as the brighter colors show the strength of purity. In this painting, a clear line component of Ophelia laying parallel to the river bank, slightly diagonally on the painting.
By placing her in the middle of the painting, surrounded by trees, plants, and flowers, the balance between her space and the natural space, creates a feeling of suffocation and claustrophobia due to the density of the foliage. Contrasting to her peace in the center of the river's current. As if the vibrating life of nature of chaos juxtaposes with the silence of death.
Inspired by his surroundings, Millais often visited the countryside and was almost always surrounded by nature. Uniting his interest in Shakespearean subjects and an intense focus on Shakespearean subjects, he produced an unforgettable and powerful image. Millais’ painting allows him to show off his artistic vision and technical skill. The work of Millais is full of symbolism, each color and flower have its own bleak connection to a feeling. Each bright flower in the murky water in the bath shadows Millais swaying reeds. Millais employed Elizabeth Siddal, a young woman, to lie in a bath and act as his model for the body of Ophelia. Millais used real plants that he collected to paint each separate flower in the painting. His main focus was on the details of nature to present it as realistic as possible. It is in his ability to combine the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelites with Victorian sensibilities that Millais excels. Millais’ Ophelia is considered to be one of the great masterpieces of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Millais employed a young woman named Elizabeth Siddal to lie in a bathtub and act as his model for the body of Ophelia.
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