Nymph Caves

The painting I choose from the Yale Art Gallery was, The Cave of the Storm Nymphs by Sir Edward John Poynter done in 1903. This neo-classical painting is a scene from Homer’s, The Odyssey giving it a mythical and philosophical theme. It is the classic landscape of beautiful sirens in a cave luring sailors into the dangerous rocky shores and eventually to their death. The style and genre he paints are similar to the earlier classical period of painting, influenced by Greek and Renaissance era mythology. His painting first caught my eye because of the rich golden streaks throughout the whole canvas and the life likeness of the sirens.

Like other paintings we have looked at there is a triangular composition in the way the three sirens are positioned drawing the viewer towards those areas. The dark stormy background has an evil unforgiving presence on the boat, but still provides enough light into the cave to illuminate the sirens bodies. The siren at the top of the triangle, near the boat in the background is playing a golden harp made from a shell, her golden red hair flowing in the wind. The hair and woman’s body are extremely lifelike with fine brush strokes with gold that glimmer off of her to make her appear almost heavenly. Meanwhile, right next to her head, there is a boat that is about to crash and sink. The boat is being toppled by enormous blue, green, and white colored golden woven waves that the storm has created and the sirens have drawn them closer to. The siren in the middle is carelessly throwing gold in the air as if it is nothing at all. Her golden red hair flows even more carelessly than she does as the wind wisps it around her head. She also seems to be looking half at the boat as to tempt them closer in their pursuit to the cave. The last siren is sprawled out lying down on her back creating the bottom point of the paintings compositional triangle. She has one arm stretched out next to a box of gold and riches holding some as they...