How to Read Arnold Böcklin’s Most Famous Mystical Painting
Entering the isle of the dead
Christopher P Jones is the author of What Great Artworks Say, an examination of some of art’s most enthralling images.
This painting shows a moonlit island across an expanse of inky dark water.
Arriving at its shore is a boat: an oarsman rows whilst another figure stands ahead, shrouded from head to toe in white and brilliantly illuminated. At the prow of the boat is a rectangular object covered in a light-coloured sheet, undoubtedly a coffin, ready to be interred on the island — the Isle of the Dead.
The island itself is a dense grove of tall, dark cypress trees. Any moonlight that reaches the isolated rock seems to be consumed by the trees as if light cannot permeate their black solemnity.
Around the trees, the island forms a rough horseshoe shape, providing a sort of natural harbour for arrivals to enter. A number of crypts are carved into the rock, either empty or else taken by previous incomers.
