Redon floods this painting with rich, intoxicating colour. Its theme is the death of the Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet. The lovesick Ophelia, driven to madness by Hamlet's cruel rejection of her, drowns while picking flowers. Redon portrays her immersed in a detached, imaginary world, surrounded by petals and leaves. In his journal for 1903 he wrote of his empathy for such natural elements: 'I love nature in all her forms ... the humble flower, tree, ground and rocks, up to the majestic peaks of mountains ... I also shiver deeply at the mystery of solitude.'