Odysseus and Polyphemus
1896 · Oil and tempera on panel · Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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About this work
- Artist
- Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)
- Year
- 1896
- Medium
- Oil and tempera on panel
- Original size
- 66 × 150 cm
- Collection
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Movement
- Symbolism
A galley full of rowers pulls hard away through green, foaming sea, while on the rocks at right the giant Polyphemus braces on a ledge and lifts a boulder above his head to hurl at them. Spray bursts white around the rocks under a pale blue sky. The scene comes from Homer's Odyssey: the Cyclops, blinded by Odysseus and his crew after they escaped from his cave hidden under his sheep, tries to sink their ship as Odysseus taunts him from the stern. Böcklin painted it in 1896, signing it AB 1896 at lower left, and it has been in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, since 2012.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Sea green, white spray and sunlit rock suit a study, living room or a coastal house with white walls. Pair it with Aivazovsky's The Ninth Wave and hang this one at 24×36 in a dark wood frame.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Symbolism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1896)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, dining room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
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 Odysseus and Polyphemus in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Odysseus and Polyphemus painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
