Eldorado 

Edmund Dulac, born in France but naturalized British, made this illustration to interpret Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Eldorado.” Published in 1912, Dulac’s watercolor and gouache illustration comes from an era of artistic exploration into symbolism and the occult, shaped by cultural anxieties around the decline of empires and the dawn of technological warfare. The image depicts a knight on horseback guided by a ghostly figure. The knight, burdened by heavy armor, follows the specter in pursuit of the mythical city of Eldorado. Dulac renders the ghost as an androgynous figure whose billowing cloak obscures their body. The image evokes a sense of relentless pursuit, and uncovers themes of longing, disillusionment, and the search for elusive ideals. In Poe’s poem, the knight never finds the mythical city, instead the poem suggests Eldorado is an internal state, not a physical place. Consider the emotional weight of seeking something unattainable. What ghosts guide our quests? Dulac's illustration encourages us to reflect on the interplay between our aspirations, our identities, and the societal forces that shape our searches.