The Death of Ophelia by Eugène Delacroix

This creation imbued with a melancholy and poetic lyricism is painted by Eugène Delacroix at the heart of the sensitivity of French romanticism in the work entitled “The Death of Ophelia”. Inspired by Shakespeare’s theater, the painter illustrates here the intimate alliance between human distress and the wild beauty of surrounding nature. This tragic and delicate painting expresses an intense poetic charge, capturing the final drift of the romantic heroine with an artistic sensitivity of infinite sweetness.

The composition is organized around the body of the young woman half-submerged in the clear stream. Ophelia lies in profile, her pale flesh contrasting with the whiteness of her wet dress which floats softly on the current. With her raised right hand, she weakly clings to the branch of a twisted tree that overhangs the river, while her left hand holds a bouquet of flowers. She is surrounded by a dense and dark vegetation, where trees with reddish leaves form a protective canopy. The diffuse light pierces through the foliage to illuminate the lifeless body of the unfortunate girl, creating an atmosphere of melancholy contemplation.

Delacroix shows here an admirable pictorial technique and an exceptional sense of textures. His perfect mastery of oil painting is manifested in the delicate rendering of the transparent water, the silkiness of the dress, and the nuances of the foliage. The artist succeeds in capturing all romantic emotion through his sensitive and vibrant touch.