''Odysseus and Polyphemus'' is an 1896 oil painting by the Swiss artist

Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolism (arts), Symbolist Painting, painter. His five versions of the ''Isle of the Dead (painting), Isle of the Dead'' inspired works by several late-Romantic composers. Biography ...

. It has been part of the collection of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

, since 2012.

History and description

The painting depicts an incident in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', the epic poem by

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

which recounts the Greek hero

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

' 10 year long return journey home from the

Siege of Troy The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

. A blind giant Cyclops,

Polyphemus Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first ap ...

, is preparing to hurl a large rock at the escaping boat of Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus in return is taunting him from the stern of the vessel. The previous night Odysseus and his shipmates had been shut in the cave of the one-eyed Polyphemus who had planned to eat them one by one. However Odysseus and his shipmates had managed to blind the Cyclops by driving a stake into his eye after he had fallen into a drunken stupor. They were then able to escape from the cave by hiding under his sheep when the flock was allowed out to graze. The subject is characteristic of Böcklin's treatment of the more down-to-earth aspects of mythological stories. The naturalistic setting reflects his early training as a landscape artist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odysseus and Polyphemus 1896 paintings Paintings by Arnold Böcklin Mythological paintings Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Paintings based on the Odyssey Maritime paintings Odysseus Polyphemus

History and description

See also

References