Ophelia

The pre-Raphaelite painting by Sir John Everett Millais is a well known across the world representation of Ophelia. It has inspired many painters and even at least one photographer. Gregory Crewdson’s interpretation of it is part of his series “Twilight”.  

Gregory Crewdson describes his inspirations for this image:  “this is a woman who has been living in this house her entire life and who has led, up to this point, an everyday existence. She comes down the stairs, and her living room is flooded. She just accepts the situation and submerges herself in the water. That's why the slippers are on the stairs and her robe is on the bannister. I see this as a cathartic event, something both beautiful and sad.”

As always lots of attention was paid to each single detail in the final image. The things you often take for granted while watching his photographs involved lots of work from different groups of people living nearby the shooting location, i.e. NorthAdams, MA.

For example, the curtains were donated by Country Curtains, the pictures on the wall were donated by a local wedding photographer, furniture and books were donated by Goodwill. If you look close enough you will notice that the book on the table is titled “Deep Harbor”. 

That’s actually the thing that draws me the most to his work, you need to look closer and not just glimpse at it to really see all of it.