The Isle of the Dead

Arnold Böcklin painted five versions of this scene between 1880 and 1886, at the request of a widow, Marie Berna, who had asked for 'a picture to dream over.' In the first version there is only the boat and the rower approaching an island of cypress trees. Marie Berna asked for a small figure in white to be added — a soul. In the third version, Böcklin added the coffin at the soul's feet. The painting became one of the most reproduced images of the late 19th century. Freud had a print in his Vienna study. Hitler owned the third version. Rachmaninoff wrote a symphonic poem after it. Now at Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin @staatlichemuseenzuberlin