Ophelia (white)

A woman’s body in wax floats on her back in a large glass vat filled with silicone. With open eyes and spread-out arms, Ophelia is depicted here at the moment of her death.

This chillingly realistic work refers to a famous episode in Shakespeare’s work: Ophelia's suicide. It also recalls John Everett Millais' painting of the young woman’s lifeless body in a similar position. But unlike the Pre-Raphaelite artist's painting, where the vegetation is lush and bright colours bring a certain softness to the composition, Paul Fryer's cold, pale Ophelia confronts the myth with the brutal experience of death.

Fryer's work was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the 2012 "Paul Fryer: Lo Spirito Vola" show at the Gucci Museo in Florence.