The Dream
- MAKER:
Artist
Oskar Kokoschka ( Austrian, 1886 - 1980 )
- DATE:
- 1918
General Description
Dense lines in irregular patterns convey a sense of movement contained beneath the surface of the image. In this scene from William Shakespeare's The Tempest, the seated woman tilts her head back and closes her eyes in a dreamlike state, as Prospero's words run along the bottom: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." Fascinated by the inner truth of things, Oskar Kokoschka developed a style that reveals the forces of movement teeming under the surface.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2008.
Web Resources
-
Neue Galerie
Read a biography of Oskar Kokoschka. -
The Public Domain Review
Check out these works of art depicting characters from Shakespearean plays. -
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Read an essay about Shakespeare and Art from the early 18th century through the early 20th century. -
Folger Shakespeare Library
Learn more about Shakespeare's The Tempest.