Arnold Böcklin was a Swiss Symbolist painter whose mythological and allegorical canvases exerted an enormous influence on European art and culture. His 'Isle of the Dead,' painted five times between 1880 and 1886, became one of the most widely reproduced images of the 19th century. His haunting, melancholy visions of a pagan world populated by centaurs, nymphs, and sea gods inspired the Surrealists and countless composers, writers, and filmmakers.
