Hamlet (Mucha)
1899 · Colour lithograph (poster) · Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939)
- Year
- 1899
- Medium
- Colour lithograph (poster)
- Original size
- 208 × 78 cm
- Collection
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (department of Prints and Photography)
- Movement
- Art Nouveau
Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet stands in black against the battlements of Elsinore, the ghost of the king pacing in the panel above her and the drowned Ophelia lying among flowers in the panel at her feet. Mucha designed the poster in 1899 for her production of the play, in a French prose translation, at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt; it was the last of his posters for her and the only one with a landscape behind the figure. The green and gold ornament and the Celtic-looking border of the earlier panels give way here to a darker, more painterly scheme. Printed by F. Champenois, Paris. The impression reproduced is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A tall black figure against a green and gold ground, for a library, study or stairwell at 12×18 or 16×24 in thin black or dark wood, no mat. It suits a white or olive wall and pairs with Lorenzaccio.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Art Nouveau painting
- Era
- 19th century (1899)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, sophisticated
- Rooms
- study or library, living room, dining room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, anniversary, her, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 12×18. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — dark wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
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 Hamlet in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Hamlet 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.
