# Odysseus and Polyphemus [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [BÖCKLIN, Arnold]() - Date: 1851-1900 - Technique: Oil and tempera on panel, 66 x 150 cm ## Commentary Böcklin's training as a landscape painter shines through in this unconventional interpretation of an episode from the ancient Greek epic, the Odyssey. Set on the island of the Cyclops - one-eyed, ill-tempered giants - this dramatic scene finds the escaping hero Odysseus calling back to the shore, taunting the Cyclops Polyphemus, who heaves a boulder after the boat. Playing up strange, grotesque, and even ridiculous elements of such stories, Böcklin conjured a pre-classical world governed by violence and lust, while giving it a plausible setting rooted in naturalistic observation. ## Related artworks - [Attack by Pirates]() - [Campagna Landscape]() - [Castle by the Sea \(Murder in the Castle Garden\)]() - [Island of the Dead \(fifth version\)]() - [Island of the Dead \(first version\)]() - [Island of the Dead \(second version\)]() - [Island of the Dead \(third version\)]() - [Pan Dancing with Children]() - [Pan in the Reeds]() - [Roger and Angelica]() - [Sleeping Diana Watched by Two Fauns]() - [Summer]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()