Jan Brueghel the Elder – Odysseus and Calypso
The scene that I focused on in The Odyssey, was Odysseus and Calypso in Ogyia. The first illustration is by Jan Brueghel the Elder, his painting illustrates a very serene and utopian like cave. This helps the readers understand why Odysseus stayed on the island for 7 years, especially since he was forced to stay. Jan Brueghel focused on making the cave appear luscious and fertile by using a lot of earthy colors. He also painted servants which I didn’t expect to see. Since the book said it was just Odysseus and Calypso on the island. We can also see that he has them embracing each other, which to me suggest that they were happily in love in their heavenly cave. Re-analyzing both painting I feel that Jan Brueghel paintings can be viewed as the beginning/early years of Odysseus in Ogyia, because for a while he was happy to be on the island.
Arnold Böcklin- Odysseus and Calypso
In Arnold Böcklin painting of Calypso and Odysseus, he shows them on opposite sides of each other. He has painted Odysseus a bluish/black figure facing the sea to illustrate that he is brooding and thinking about his life in Ithaca. While goddess Calypso sits on a red blanket on top of a rock longing for him, and ready to play the lyre to entertain him. I felt this portrait was more accurate, since it tied in very closely with the book. Jan Brueghel paints the happier version of Ogyia. On the other hand, Arnold Böcklin paints a more realistic version of the relationship between Calypso and Odysseus. Böcklin’s painting also gives insight to readers that it is 7 years later and his mood and the physical appearance of Ogyia are no longer pleasant for him.
I love your analysis of both pictures. I also really like how they are the antithesis of each other. As you said in your analysis, there was definitely purpose of making the scenery of the Island in the first picture so serene and beautiful – although Odyesseus was forced to stay on the Island, it emodies the idea that it wasn’t complete torture. This is also exemplified in the way Odysseus and Calypso embrace eachother here. The second piece by Böcklin is also so interesting! By Odysseus appearing solely as a dark figure with no face really captures his longing to go home which is so intriguing since it says so much, in it’s own simplistic way.
Hi Tiannis,
A very thoughtful analysis! Your attention to light and color in both pictures leads you to an analysis not just of each artist’s style, but to which part of the story each attends to. Breughel shows us something that (by the time we encounter Odysseus) is in the past: the happy initial period of mutual attraction and pleasure between Odysseus and Calypso.
One really striking thing about the Böcklin image is that the blue-black Odysseus appears almost inhuman–like a column of rock–whereas Calypso’s face and body receive a detailed treatment. You’re absolutely right that in general this painting follows the text more closely. But (unlike the text) it turns Odysseus into a static figure, frozen in time–one color, perhaps symbolizing one mood (grief, as you note)?–whereas Calypso seems dynamic, human, existing in time, reacting to her situation. The viewer is forced to look at, and care about Calypso–perhaps in a more sustained way than in the poem alone.
Really great work.
Best,
Prof Kolb