In act five of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet, accompanied by Horatio, meditates on the frailty of human existence as he waits for his fiancée’s funeral procession. Delacroix produced several works based on this scene to explore this existential anguish. You can see another such small painting on your left.
Look at the skull and note how the grave-digger’s exaggerated gesture creates a feeling of malaise. Trace the line of vision of each character and the axes formed by the hill, the path, and the finger pointed by the figure seen from the back: they all lead to the disinterred skull. Note the subtle play of colors. The gray, blue, and yellow of the sky and the soil form a gloomy setting and a heavy atmosphere fully in tune with the grieving figures. Hamlet is wearing black, the color of mourning. His smooth face and delicate fingers are signs of his fleeting youth. |
