How to Read Paintings: Ophelia by John Everett Millais

An extraordinarily rich painting by a Pre-Raphaelite artist, depicting both death and life

Ophelia (1851) by John Everett Millais. Oli on canvas. Tate, London. Image source Wikimedia Commons

This painting, by the British artist John Everett Millais, shows a young woman lying on her back in a small river. Her name is Ophelia, a character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Ophelia is a young noblewoman…