![Arnold Böcklin - Die Toteninsel - Version 4 sw](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Toteninsel_-_Version_4_sw.jpg)
''Isle of the Dead'' (german: Die Toteninsel) is the best-known painting of
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
Symbolist artist
Arnold Böcklin
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss symbolist painter.
Biography
He was born in Basel. His father, Christian Frederick Böcklin (b. 1802), was descended from an old family of Schaffhausen, and engaged in the silk tra ...
(1827–1901). Prints were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century—
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
observed in his 1936 novel ''
Despair'' that they could be "found in every Berlin home".
Böcklin produced several different versions of the painting between 1880 and 1901, which today are exhibited in Basel, New York City, Berlin and Leipzig.
Description and meaning
All versions of ''Isle of the Dead'' depict a desolate and rocky islet seen across an expanse of dark water. A small rowing boat is just arriving at a
water gate
A watergate (or water gate) is a fortified gate, leading directly from a castle or town wall directly on to a quay, river side or harbour. In medieval times it enabled people and supplies to reach the castle or fortification directly from the ...
and
seawall
A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...
on shore. An oarsman maneuvers the boat from the stern. In the bow, facing the gate, is a standing figure clad entirely in white. Just ahead of the figure is a white,
festoon
A festoon (from French ''feston'', Italian ''festone'', from a Late Latin ''festo'', originally a festal garland, Latin ''festum'', feast) is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depict ...
ed object commonly interpreted as a
coffin. The tiny islet is dominated by a dense grove of tall, dark
cypress trees—associated by long-standing tradition with cemeteries and mourning—which is closely hemmed in by precipitous cliffs. Furthering the funerary theme are what appear to be sepulchral portals and windows on the rock faces.
Böcklin himself provided no public explanation as to the meaning of the painting, though he did describe it as "a dream picture: it must produce such a stillness that one would be awed by a knock on the door". The title, which was conferred upon it by the art dealer
Fritz Gurlitt
Friedrich "Fritz" Gurlitt (3 October 1854 – 8 February 1893), originally from Vienna, was a Berlin based art dealer and collector, specialising, in particular, in contemporary art. After his early death the art gallery he had established in cent ...
in 1883, was not specified by Böcklin, though it does derive from a phrase in an 1880 letter he sent to the painting's original commissioner. Not knowing the history of the early versions of the painting (see below), many observers have interpreted the oarsman as representing the boatman
Charon, who ferried souls to the underworld in
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
. The water would then be either the
River Styx
In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whi ...
or the
River Acheron
The Acheron (; grc, Ἀχέρων ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; ell, Αχέροντας ''Acherontas'') is a river located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . Its source is ...
, and his white-clad passenger a recently deceased soul transiting to the afterlife.
Origins and inspiration
![Pontikonisi Island 05-06-06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Pontikonisi_Island_05-06-06.jpg)
''Isle of the Dead'' evokes, in part, the
English Cemetery in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, where the first three versions were painted. The cemetery was close to Böcklin's studio and was also where his infant daughter Maria was buried. (In all, Böcklin lost 8 of his 14 children.)
The model for the rocky islet was perhaps
Pontikonisi
Pontikonisi ( el, Ποντικονήσι, "Mouse Island") is a Greek islet near the island of Corfu. Its prominent feature is a Byzantine chapel of Pantokrator, dating from the 11th or 12th century.
In Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Poseidon turns the ...
, a small, lush island near
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
, which is adorned with a small chapel amid a cypress grove, perhaps in combination with the mysterious rocky island of
Strombolicchio
Strombolicchio () is a sea stack of volcanic origin to the northeast of the island of Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands of Italy. Its name in the Sicilian language, ''Struognulicchiu,'' means ''Little Stromboli''.
Geology
Geologically, Stromboli ...
near the famous volcano
Stromboli, Sicily. (Another less likely candidate is the island of
Ponza
Ponza (Italian: ''isola di Ponza'' ) is the largest island of the Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina in th ...
in the
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...
.)
Versions
Böcklin completed the first version of the painting in May 1880 for his patron
Alexander Günther, but kept it himself. In April 1880, while the painting was in progress, Böcklin's Florence studio had been visited by Marie Berna, née Christ (widow of financier Dr.
Georg von Berna (1836–1865) and soon-to-be wife of the German politician
Waldemar, Count of Oriola (1854–1910)). She was struck by the first version of this "dream image" (now in the
Kunstmuseum Basel
The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a heritage site of national significance.
Its lineage extends back to t ...
), which sat half completed on the easel, so Böcklin painted a smaller version on wood for her (now in the
Metropolitan Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
). At Berna's request, he added the coffin and female figure, in allusion to her husband's death from
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
years earlier. Subsequently, he added these elements to the earlier painting. He called these works ("Tomb Island"). (Sometimes the "Basel" version is credited as the first one, sometimes the "New York".) It was acquired by the
Gottfried Keller-Stiftung
Gottfried Keller-Stiftung (Gottfried Keller Foundation, french: la fondation Gottfried-Keller), commonly abbreviated to GKS, is an arts foundation focused on cultural heritage of Switzerland. It was named by its founder Lydia Welti-Escher (1858– ...
in 1920.
The third version was painted in 1883 for Böcklin's dealer Fritz Gurlitt. Beginning with this version, one of the burial chambers in the rocks on the right bears Böcklin's own initials: "A.B." (In 1933, this version was put up for sale, and a noted Böcklin admirer
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
acquired it. He hung it first at the
Berghof in
Obersalzberg
Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. Located about south-east of Munich, close to the border with Austria, it is best known as the site of Adolf Hitler's former mountain resi ...
and then, after 1940, in the New
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. It is now at the
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.)
Financial imperatives resulted in a fourth version in 1884, which was ultimately acquired by the entrepreneur and art collector Baron
Heinrich Thyssen
Heinrich Thyssen (31 October 1875 – 26 June 1947), after 22 June 1907 Heinrich Freiherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon et Impérfalva, was a German-Hungarian entrepreneur and art collector.
Biography
Thyssen was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr, the ...
and hung at his
Berliner Bank
Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany
Berliner may also refer to:
People
* Berliner (surname)
Places
* Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States
* Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany
...
subsidiary. It was burned after a bomb attack during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and survives only as a black-and-white photograph.
A fifth version was commissioned in 1886 by the
Museum of Fine Arts,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, where it still hangs.
![Böcklin - Die Lebensinsel -1888](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Lebensinsel_-1888.jpeg/1200px-B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Lebensinsel_-1888.jpeg)
In the last year of his life Böcklin painted a sixth version with his son Carlo. It hangs in the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
,
Saint-Petersburg.
In 1888, Böcklin created a painting called ("Isle of Life"). Probably intended as an antipole to the ''Isle of the Dead'', it also shows a small island, but with all signs of joy and life. Together with the first version of the ''Isle of the Dead'', this painting is part of the collection of the Kunstmuseum Basel.
Versions
# May 1880—Oil on canvas; 111 × 155 cm;
Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Kunstmuseum, Basel.
# June 1880—Oil on board; 74 × 122 cm;
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, Reisinger Fund, New York.
# 1883—Oil on board; 80 × 150 cm;
Alte Nationalgalerie,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...
.
# 1884—Oil on copper; 81 × 151 cm; destroyed in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
during World War II.
# 1886—Oil on board; 80 × 150 cm;
Museum der bildenden Künste
The Museum der bildenden Künste (German: "Museum of Fine Arts") is a museum in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It covers artworks from the Late Middle Ages to Modernity.
History
Museum Foundation and First Museum
The museum dates back to the fo ...
, Leipzig.
Admirers
The painting has attracted a wide variety of admirers.
Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts in ...
kept a reproduction in his office;
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
had one above his bed;
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
bought one of the originals.
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
wrote that reproductions of the painting could be “found in every Berlin home”.
Works inspired by ''Isle of the Dead''
Paintings
*
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
's 1932 painting ''
The True Painting of "The Isle of the Dead" by Arnold Bocklin at the Hour of the Angelus'' is inspired by Böcklin's work.
* The Swiss artist
H. R. Giger
Hans Ruedi Giger ( ; ; 5 February 1940 – 12 May 2014) was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as " biomechanical". Giger later abandoned airbrush for pastels, mark ...
created a version of the picture, ''Hommage à Böcklin'' (1977), in his typical biomechanical style.
*
Fabrizio Clerici
Fabrizio Clerici (15 May 1913 – 7 June 1993) was an Italian painter.
Biography
Clerici was a complex and eclectic artist and was also an architect, costume designer, scenographer and photographer. His works were exhibited in many museums ...
, the noted Italian Surrealist painter, paraphrased Böcklin's seminal painting in two of his works: ''Le Presenze'', dating from 1974, and ''Latitudine Böcklin'', completed in 1979.
* Australian Surrealist painter
James Gleeson
James Timothy Gleeson (21 November 1915 – 20 October 2008) was an Australian artist. He served on the board of the National Gallery of Australia.
Early life
Gleeson was born in the Sydney district of Hornsby in 1915 and attended East Sydn ...
drew a parallel with the painting and the entrance to the underworld in the
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
in his 1989 work ''Avernus Transvisioned as Böcklin's Isle''.
* German artist
Michael Sowa
Michael Sowa (born 1945) is a German artist known mainly for his paintings, which are variously whimsical, surreal, or stunning. His paintings often feature animals and are titled in English and German. His art is widely available as posters, notec ...
has painted ''
Böcklin 6th version'', a parody of the painting in 1992.
Art
* At the OpenArt 2022 exhibit in
Örebro
Örebro ( , ) is the sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, a fifteen metre long and seven metre high mixed-media sculpture by artist Henrik Jonsson was exhibited. The sculpture is based upon Böcklin's paintings.
Drama
Theatre
*
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...
's play ''
The Ghost Sonata
''The Ghost Sonata'' ( sv, Spöksonaten, links=no) is a play in three acts by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on 21 January 1908. Since then, it has be ...
'' (1907) ends with the image of ''Isle of the Dead'' accompanied by melancholy music. It was one of Strindberg's favourite pictures.
Ballet
*
Liam Scarlett
Liam Scarlett (8 April 198616 April 2021) was a British choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black, Miami City Ballet, No ...
’s final work for
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...
was ''Die Toteninsel'' (2019), inspired by the symphonic poem of
Rachmaninov
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of ...
as well as the painting.
Film
*
Val Lewton
Val Lewton (May 7, 1904 – March 14, 1951) was a Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a pain ...
used the painting in scene backgrounds for his 1943 film ''
I Walked with a Zombie
''I Walked with a Zombie'' is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. It stars James Ellison (actor), James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, and follows a Canadian nurse who trave ...
'', a story about an island of the dead.
*
Val Lewton
Val Lewton (May 7, 1904 – March 14, 1951) was a Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a pain ...
's later 1945 horror film ''
Isle of the Dead'' was also inspired by the painting, which serves as a backdrop to the picture's
title sequence
A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with vi ...
.
* The painting has inspired two
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
animated shorts.
** It is the explicit backdrop for
Norman McLaren's short animated film ''A Little Phantasy on a 19th-century Painting'' (1946).
** Animator Craig Welch has stated that both the painting and McLaren's film were inspirations for his 1996 short ''
How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels''.
* Design elements from the painting appear in mattes and sets in the 1951 film ''
The Tales of Hoffmann
''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died i ...
''.
* A large copy of the painting appears on a wall midway through
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...
's 1995 science fiction movie ''
12 Monkeys''.
* The 2012 American computer-animated horror-comedy film "Hotel Transylvania" features several copies of the painting (possibly, the third version) on walls around Dracula's castle, including just inside the door of Mavis' bedroom.
* ''
Alien: Covenant'' (2017) references the painting during a scene set in the garden
Television
* Böcklin's painting was used in season 5 episode 3 of ''
Pretty Little Liars
''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...
'' ("Surfing the Aftershocks"), mysteriously affecting one of the main characters.
* In the manga and anime series ''
Kuroshitsuji
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yana Toboso. It has been serialized in Square Enix's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Monthly GFantasy'' since September 2006. The series follows Ciel Phantomhive, the twelve-year-old Ea ...
'', is shown a place called "Island of Death", described as a sanctuary for demons. It is also the designated area to commence a formal duel between individuals of the said race.
* The painting is featured in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
comedy anime series ''
Neo Yokio
is an adult animated web series, streaming television series created by Ezra Koenig of American rock band Vampire Weekend, and produced by Japanese anime studios Production I.G. and Studio Deen. The first season, consisting of six episodes, prem ...
'', in which the characters briefly magically enter the painting itself.
Literature
* In
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
's 1966 novel ''
The Crystal World'', Böcklin's second version of the painting is invoked to describe the gloom of the opening scene at
Port Matarre.
*
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...
used the picture as an inspiration for the meeting place of two mythological beings (one of them the alter-ego of the protagonist, Francis Sandow) in his novel ''
Isle of the Dead'' (1969).
In-universe, Sandow references the painting as he recollects having created the world where it lies.
*
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...
's ''
The Warlord Chronicles'' (1995–1997) associates
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
's
Isle of Portland
An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms.
Isle may refer to:
Geography
* Is ...
with the painting's isle. It is described as a place of internal exile and damnation. The causeway that almost links the real-life island to the mainland was supposed to be guarded to keep the dead (including the criminally insane) from crossing
the Fleet and escaping back into
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
.
* Graphic novel ''Ile des morts'' (text: Thomas Mosdi, drawings: Guillaume Sorel) has the pictures playing a key role in its gothic, Lovecraftian story.
* Gerhard Meier's 1979 novel ''Isle of the Dead'' (''Toteninsel'') references Böcklin's painting.
Music
Classical composers
* ''The Island of the Dead'' (1890) is a
symphonic poem by
Romantic composer
Heinrich Schülz-Beuthen
Heinrich Donatien Wilhelm Schulz-Beuthen (19 June 1838 in Beuthen, Upper Silesia (now Bytom, in Poland) – 12 March 1915 in Dresden) was a composer of the high Romantic era.
Life
His original surname was Schulz: it was not unusual for people w ...
evoking the painting.
*
Andreas Hallén
Johan Andreas Hallén (22 December 1846 – 11 March 1925) was a Swedish Romantic composer, conductor and music teacher, primarily known for his operas, which were heavily influenced by Richard Wagner’s music dramas. Hallén was born in Got ...
, a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
Romantic composer, wrote a symphonic poem "Die Toteninsel" in 1898.
*
Dezso d’Antalffy, a
Hungarian Romantic composer, wrote a symphonic poem "Die Toteninsel" in 1907.
*
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...
also composed a
symphonic poem ''Isle of the Dead'',
Op. 29 (1909), inspired by a black-and-white print of the painting. He said that had he seen the colour original, he probably would not have written the music.
*
Felix Woyrsch
Felix Woyrsch (8 October 1860, Opava – 20 March 1944, Altona) was a German composer and choir director.
Life
Woyrsch was born in Troppau, just over the Prussian border in Austrian Silesia (now Opava in the Czech Republic). He was raised in Dre ...
composed ''3 Böcklin Phantasies'' (Die Toteninsel, Der Eremit, Im Spiel der Wellen), Op. 53 (1910).
* One of the four
tone poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...
s of German composer
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...
’s ''
Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin
''Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin'' (Four tone poems after Arnold Böcklin), Op. 128, is a composition in four parts for orchestra by Max Reger, based on four paintings by Arnold Böcklin, including ''Die Toteninsel'' ('' ''Isle of the Dead ...
'' (Op. 128, 1913) is “Die Toteninsel” (No. 3), based on the painting.
* In the same year, Reger's disciple
Fritz Lubrich, Junior
888–1971composed (''Three Romantic Tonstücke after Böcklin’s Pictures''; Op. 37), an organ work of which No. 3 is also ''The Dead Island''.
* ''Visit on the Island of the Dead'' (2009–2010) is a
symphonic poem for orchestra, composed by the
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
composer
Kristian Oma Rønnes.
Pop music
* The Swedish neoclassical band
Arcana used an image of ''Isle of the Dead'' on the cover of their debut album ''Dark Age of Reason'' (1996).
* An album by
Harald Blüchel
Harald Blüchel (born February 19, 1966) is a German electronic artist who is mostly known under his alias Cosmic Baby. Blüchel is also well known for his participation in dance acts such as Energy 52 with Paul Schmitz-Moormann and The Visi ...
was named after the painting ''Die Toteninsel'' (Zauberberg-Trilogie Teil 1) (2006). The third version of the painting is shown on the cover of this album.
* The heavy metal band Atlantean Kodex used ''Die Toteninsel'' (Version III) as a cover for their first full-length album, ''The Golden Bough'' (October 2010).
* American songwriter and singer
Rykarda Parasol wrote her song "Island of the Dead (Oh Mi, Oh My)" for the Amsterdam
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum () is a Dutch art museum dedicated to the works of Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries in the Museum Square in Amsterdam South, close to the Stedelijk Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Concertgebouw. The museum opene ...
's exhibition ''Dreams of nature'' (2012), where the fifth version of the painting was on show. The song, together with Rachmaninoff's piece, was possible to listen to while watching the painting. The song is on Parasol's 2013 album ''Against the Sun''.
* French blackgaze band
Alcest
Alcest is a French post-black metal band from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, founded and led by Neige (Stéphane Paut). It began in 2000 as a black metal solo project by Neige, soon a trio, but following the release of their first demo in 2001, band memb ...
recorded a song, "L'Île Des Morts," inspired by the paintings, for their album ''
Spiritual Instinct'', released October 25, 2019.
* The Spanish/American rock band Alfonso Cronopio Trio (also known as A.C.T.) led by Alfonso Cronopio (founder of the Spanish 80s hardcore band TDeK) released the song "Pagando al barquero" in 2015. The song itself as well as the music video, are inspired in the ''Die Toteninsel'' painting.
Video Games
A German video game “
SIGNALIS” by rose-engine studio references the painting
several times, as it plays a crucial role in understanding the relationship between the main character and her colleague.
References
* Eva Perón en la isla de los muertos
* Morris, Gary (2009). Action!: Interviews with Directors from Classical Hollywood to Contemporary Iran (en inglés). Anthem Press. p. 216.
External links
The version of the painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York CityThe version of the painting at the Kunstmuseum BaselThe version of the painting at the Old National Gallery in Berlin* The website
ttp://www.toteninsel.net toteninsel.netis an encyclopedia created by the French painter
Pascal Lecocq to list the references and pastiches of the painting in all arts.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isle Of The Dead (Painting)
Symbolist paintings
1880 paintings
Paintings about death
Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Paintings in the collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie
Paintings by Arnold Böcklin
Ships in art