Isle of the Dead
Isle of the Dead was by far the most popular work by late Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. The painting saw a good deal of reproduction and cultural representation in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century. Then Adolf Hitler jumped on the trend by purchasing an original* and people started talking about the painting a whole lot less. You would have that effect as well if you went about the place acting like Hitler did.
Böcklin produced five known versions of this painting**. The one I have selected for this column can be found in New York. It and the version presently on display in Basel, Switzerland were the first two Isle of the Deads and were produced simultaneously. The third version, found in Berlin, was Hitler’s version***. The fourth version was destroyed by fire during a WWII bombing raid. The fifth is sort of an average of its predecessors and can be found in Leipzig.
Some people have tried to point to a progressive arc that exists within the series. The only one that I can see is that the standing figure in the boat is increasingly hunched over in each subsequent version. It has been suggested that the overall mood becomes more sombre over the course of the series, but that’s nonsense and just goes to show that some people simply aren’t trying very hard.
If I had to offer a criticism of this work, it would be to point out that the oarsman in the boat is sitting the wrong way round. The boat has a clearly visible wake so there’s no arguing about whether it’s coming or going. Either Böcklin was a bit confused about how rowing works or else perhaps he personally rowed by pushing on the oars like a crazy person and was trying to start a trend.
*No fault of Böcklin’s… he was long dead by the time.
**You wouldn’t think that creating morbid paintings could be habit-forming, but what do you know?
***Ironically, Hitler’s Böcklin was by far the most optimistic of the five. It portrays the Isle of the Dead during the day and is much lighter in tone.