Ophelia c. 1868 - 1871

Editor: Here we have Victor Müller’s "Ophelia," a drawing from around 1868 to 1871, currently residing in the Städel Museum. The figure seems almost consumed by the surrounding foliage. What draws your eye to this piece? Curator: The drawing’s production process is particularly interesting. We see Müller's deliberate use of line to evoke the scene and figure rather than definitively depicting them. It encourages us to consider the social context that allows for the romanticizing of Ophelia’s tragic demise in Shakespeare. He’s commodifying this suffering using paper and graphite. Editor: So you see the artistic choices relating directly to social forces at work during its making? Curator: Precisely. Müller uses a readily available and reproducible medium to disseminate a version of Ophelia's death that fits a certain palatable romanticism. Notice the suggestive linework rather than clearly delineated forms—what impact do you think that choice had on its reception? Editor: I hadn’t considered the deliberate *vagueness* of the image as a factor of production! It seems less about fidelity and more about feeling, maybe. Could we then read the relative affordability and replicability of drawings, as opposed to paintings, as further democratizing this image of feminine suffering? Curator: It absolutely opens up that avenue for discussion. And think about the role of the Städel Museum as another layer in that distribution, continuing to curate this consumption. The art becomes not just the *what* but the *how* and the *why* it came to be. Editor: That’s a completely different way of viewing this image! Seeing it as less about artistic genius, and more about artistic labor and its social implications. Curator: Precisely! Looking at art through a materialist lens reminds us of art’s participation in larger networks of labor and capital.