Attack by Pirates

B�cklin was one of the most celebrated and influential artists in central Europe in the later 19th century despite contemporary and posthumous criticism. His work is noted for its imaginative and idiosyncratic interpretation of themes from Classical mythology. Much of his prolific output consists of classical landscapes populated with such creatures as fauns and nymphs or such scenes as mermaids and mermen erotically frolicking. His most famous work is “The Island of the Dead” (five versions, 1880 and after) is not typical except in its theme of death and its joining of naturalism and fantasy. The Surrealists and artists such as de Chirico valued his work for its irrationality; his work, however, was not seriously considered again until the 1960s and 1970s.