The Isle of Life
1888 · Oil and tempera on wood · Kunstmuseum Basel
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)
- Year
- 1888
- Medium
- Oil and tempera on wood
- Original size
- 93.3 × 140.1 cm
- Collection
- Kunstmuseum Basel
- Movement
- Symbolism
A small green island rises from a still lake under a blue sky heaped with white clouds, crowded with tall trees, palms and a flowering yellow shrub, while a procession in red, white and blue robes dances across the grassy hilltop. In the water below, swans glide and partly nude nymphs and a triton bathe beside a rocky arch at the island's edge. Böcklin painted it in 1888, while living in Zürich, two years after the last of his five versions of the Isle of the Dead; its sunlit colour is far from that picture's dark cypresses and still water. It belongs to the Kunstmuseum Basel.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Blue sky, white swans and bright greens make a sunny Böcklin for a living room, dining room or bedroom with white or soft blue walls. Pair it with his Isle of the Dead and hang this one at 36×24 in a dark wood frame.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Symbolism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1888)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, bedroom, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 36×24. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or dark wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Isle of Life in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Isle of Life painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
