Hamlet als Akt, aus _Hamlet und Horatio auf dem Kirchhof_ c. 1868

Curator: Well, hello there. The work before us, a pencil drawing on paper, comes from the hand of Victor Müller, dating back to about 1868. Its title rather gives it away: _Hamlet als Akt, aus Hamlet und Horatio auf dem Kirchhof_. Or, "Hamlet as Nude, from Hamlet and Horatio in the Churchyard." What strikes you initially about this image? Editor: He's gorgeous. Seriously, a study of male beauty but with a melancholic air... Hamlet by way of Michelangelo. I mean, look at the pose, the musculature, even unfinished, the expressiveness of that gaze... It's classically heroic, and tragically, eternally sad. Curator: It's fascinating how Müller extracts the heroic yet vulnerable dimensions from Shakespeare’s character. The social context is crucial here. The mid-19th century was captivated by Hamlet, viewing him through lenses of Romantic introspection and the rise of the individual in modern society. Müller, as an artist associated with academic art, clearly draws upon a long tradition of depicting the male nude as a vessel for expressing complex emotional states. Editor: Exactly. He’s using the classical form, but there’s a very modern psychological depth being explored here. Look at the sketchy quality of the drawing – you get the feeling he is creating an image that has not fully taken shape... that something is there, but also somehow not. That tension just breathes Hamlet. He even captures his "to be or not to be" perfectly, here: the question is, should one exist fully or simply as a pale idea? Curator: And note that this is clearly a study. Müller seems to be working out how the figure of Hamlet, nude no less, will function within a larger composition – hence the subsidiary sketches. He’s grappling with the very theatricality of grief. How do you represent the inexpressible in a visually compelling way? The staging, the costumes, everything that makes theater so popular—and what you discard to render it honestly in painting or sketch. Editor: It really comes down to Müller's remarkable ability to instill the timeless with something utterly fresh. The nudity isn't salacious but, quite frankly, incredibly vulnerable and touching. Stripped bare emotionally, metaphorically, physically. Seeing Hamlet as nude forces us to recognize the human element so often obscured by his famous speeches. Curator: Agreed. A provocative take for the era, challenging us to rethink historical representations. Editor: Leaving me to consider where that kind of artistic license and courage has gone, but leaving me grateful nonetheless.