Entering the Island of the Dead

How to read Arnold Böcklin’s most famous image

Isle of the Dead (1880) by Arnold Böcklin. Oil on canvas. 111 × 155 cm. Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland. Image source Wikimedia Commons

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…