The Isle of the Dead

After the Maximilian Pirner-influenced The End of All Things, here is my version of Böcklin's Isle of the Dead. This is a very small painting (5" x 7") done on hardboard last night. To accelerate the process, I gave each coat of paint 30 seconds in the microwave oven to dry it out. I don't necessarily recommend this (I've seen other artists use hair dryers to speed up an artwork when on deadline), but it worked out pretty well in this case, as far as I can tell. If, years from now, the painting disintegrates, that will be sad. But unlikely. I did this from memory, and I omitted the boatman, as you can probably see. It came out quite well, and retains something of the air of mystery of the original(s)—of which there are four still in existence (one other was destroyed in Berlin in WWII).

Return to Böcklin's Isle, 2016, acrylic on board, 5" x 7".