Details

Title

The Death of Hamlet (La Mort d' Hamlet), from the Hamlet series

Artist/Maker

Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798–1863)

Date

1843, printed 1843–1864

Medium

Black and white lithograph on wove paper

Dimensions

11 3/8 × 8 1/16 inches

Credit

Purchase in honor of Mrs. Robert Wells, President 1972-1973 of the Members Guild

Accession #

73.49

On View

Currently not on view

Hamlet and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, mortally wound each other in a duel. Meanwhile, the queen has died from poison the king had intended for Hamlet. In the play, Hamlet kills Claudius before dying himself, but this is omitted in Delacroix’s version. The action returns to the castle state room where it began. The actors now are precariously arranged along a descending diagonal, symbolizing the collapse of the ruling family.