The Rebellious Curator

Ophelia by John Millais 1851

 This painting was inspired by Shakespeare's play Hamlet, in which Hamlet kills Ophelia's father. Despondent with grief, Ophelia goes to pick flowers in the forest, falls into a stream, and drowns. Millais wanted the scene to be as realistic as possible and spent months painting by the Hogsmill River in Southern England. Back at his studio in London, Millais hired a model dressed in an embroidered gown to lie in a bathtub full of water for hours on end. The water got so cold that his model became ill with a severe cold. Millais wanted to include certain flowers that bloom at different times of the year because they are mentioned in the play and have symbolic meanings. For instance, roses symbolize love, and violets, faithfulness. The tree in the background is a Weeping Willow, which describes Ophelia's bitter sorrow. 

Millais was born in England in 1829 and studied art at London's Royal Academy at age 11. Later, he helped form a movement called The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to make art that was true to nature and spiritual, so they always worked from life and chose subjects from classic literature or the Bible.