Isle of the Dead (Die Toteninsel) – New York Version – 1880

Description

Isle of the Dead, in Arnold Böcklin’s New York version of 1880, shows a pale boat approaching an enclosed island beneath a dark blue, clouded sky. Ochre rocks flank the sheltered recess, while tall, nearly black cypresses rise within it. The vessel stands out against the dark water, supplying a quiet direction of movement. The scene does not explain itself through a sequence of actions. Its power lies in the distance between the approaching boat and the still, secluded place ahead.

This is the New York version of 1880, painted in oil on wood. Marie Berna commissioned it as a memorial to her late husband and asked for the coffin and shrouded figure in the boat. Those elements give the journey a funerary meaning without resolving every mystery of the landscape. Böcklin’s restrained arrangement allows calm water, vertical trees and enclosed stone to create a sustained atmosphere of solemn passage.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Arnold Böcklin collection.