Arnold Böcklin: Odysseus and Polyphemus ![reasonator:Q20537891](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Wikidata-Reasonator_small_logo.svg/5px-Wikidata-Reasonator_small_logo.svg.png) |
Artist | | |
Title | Odysseus and Polyphemus ![Edit this at Wikidata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) label QS:Lru,"Одиссей и Полифем" label QS:Len,"Odysseus and Polyphemus" |
Object type | painting ![Edit this at Wikidata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) |
Genre | mythology ![Edit this at Wikidata](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png) |
Description | Böcklin’s original training as a landscape painter shines through in this unconventional interpretation of an episode from the ancient Greek epic poem the Odyssey. Crashing waves meet jagged rocks in a spray and scurry of foam. Escaping from the island of the Cyclopes—one-eyed, ill-tempered giants—the hero Odysseus calls back to the shore, taunting the Cyclops Polyphemus, who heaves a boulder after the boat. Unlike Academic colleagues who treated ancient mythology with reverence and solemnity, Böcklin often played up strange, grotesque, and even ridiculous elements of these stories, conjuring a pre-Classical world governed by violence and lust. |
Date | 1896 date QS:P571,+1896-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
Medium | oil and tempera on panel |
Dimensions | height: 66 cm (25.9 in); width: 150 cm (59 in) dimensions QS:P2048,66U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,150U174728 |
Collection | institution QS:P195,Q49133 |
Current location | not on view |
Accession number | 2012.626 |
Object history | A. von der Mühll-Bachofen, Basel (acquired in 1896) Mrs. A. von der Mühll-Bachofen, Basel (widow of the above, by 1927) Mrs. Fürstenberger-von der Mühll, Rheinfelden (by descent from the above by 1938) Kunsthandlung Schulthess, Basel Private Collection, Arlesheim, near Basel (by 1968) Acquired by the late owner circa 2000 sold at Sotheby's, London, 11 June 2012, lot 8 |
Exhibition history | Basel, Kunsthalle, Böcklin-Jubiläums-Ausstellung, 1897, no. 84 Basel, Kunsthalle, Böcklin-Ausstellung, 1917, no. 123 Basel, Kunsthalle, Böcklin: Ausstellung zum Gedächtnis an seinen 50. Todestag, 1951, no. 121 Basel, Kunsthalle, Arnold Böcklin, Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Plastiken. Ausstellung zum 150. Geburtstag, 1977, no. 195 Darmstadt, Mathildenhöhe, Arnold Böcklin, Ausstellung zum 150. Geburtstag, 1977, no. 81 |
Credit line | Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the Gift of Laurence K. and Lorna J. Marshall |
Inscriptions | Monogram and date bottom left: AB 1896 |
References | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Sotheby's, London, 2012 (has longer description) |
Source/Photographer | 5AEL9TzTNMe8IA — Google Arts & Culture |
Other versions | ![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Odysseus_and_Polyphemus.jpg/128px-Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Odysseus_and_Polyphemus.jpg) |