Ophélie (Ophelia)
| Support Type: | Wood Panel |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France |
| Location History: | Ophélie was created by Jules-Élie Delaunay in 1882. In the same year, the painting was acquired by the City of Bordeaux through purchase at the Salon de la Société des Amis des Arts de Bordeaux. It subsequently entered the collections of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, where it remains today under inventory number Bx E 771. The work has therefore had a remarkably stable institutional history: from its acquisition by the municipal collection in 1882 to its present preservation in Bordeaux.* Over the course of its museum history, the painting has also been included in several exhibitions, including the Société des Amis des Arts exhibition in Bordeaux in 1882, exhibitions of nineteenth-century French painting in later decades, and exhibitions in Bordeaux, Calais, Yamanashi and Nantes. Despite these temporary exhibition loans, its permanent collection and ownership have remained connected to Bordeaux. |
This painting by Jules-lie Delaunay can be considered as a more introspective perspective on the character from one of the great works of Shakespeare. Unlike the theatrical portrayals of Ophelia’s final moment, Delaunay chose to display all the poignancy in capturing the charm of the innocent, vulnerable girl at the verge of impending tragedy. With this portrait of Ophelia. The character, almost smiling as she looks at the viewer, is depicted with an almost translucent pale face, contrasted with the dark background, her hair forming lush dark waves that fall on shoulders and garments. The most prominent detail in the paintings, besides the figure of Ophelia herself. Is the garland of different wildflowers with which the model is adorned. Such diverse wildflowers as the daisies, the hyacinths, anemones. Poppies, among others, all seem to complement the brightness and delicacy of the figure, giving them the tone of an apparition,. Delaunay is adding to the beauty with the many colorful flowers on her dress, scattered on the ground around her as if composing a bouquet or framing naturally our central character. This makes the general impression of impending disaster which is directly related to the character of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s play. The brilliance of the flowers contrasts the anguish of the soul of our central character and makes the mood of the paintings. The artist is not striving to picture the apex of the tragedy and the death of Ophelia,. On the contrary, he is concerned to reveal in the work Ophelia’s spirit, her psyche. Without river, trees or moving water, the scenery in the paintings, creates a feeling of mysteriously and the inquietude.Ophelia is being drowned by darkness,, a light color being contrasting the dark, and looking to the spectator creates the impression of a detached simultaneously distant and approachable, mysterious and fragile figure.The colour palette used by the painter is restricted: dark red, green and yellow; these colors help create an atmosphere of Ophelia’s solitudinem creating the general melancholic feel.However, he succeeds, not abandoning the literary subject but still managing to capture the soul of Ophelia.