Sir John Everett Millais | Ophelia, 1851-1852

The scene depicted is from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act IV, Scene VII, in which Ophelia, driven out of her mind when her father is murdered by her lover Hamlet, falls into a stream and drowns:

There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds

Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;

When down her weedy trophies and herself

Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,

And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up;

Sir John Everett Millais | Ophelia, 1851-1852 | Tate Britain, London

Camille Pissarro | La charcutiére, 1883

Like 'The Little Country Maid', this painting was executed while the artist lived near Pontoise, north-west of Paris.

During the 1880s he became interested in painting rural market scenes, several of which were based on the markets at Pontoise and its neighbouring villages.

Such subjects allowed Pissarro to combine the study of the human figure with depictions of outdoor scenes of everyday rural life.

Although he wrote to his son Lucien that he wished the painting to have a 'certain naive freshness', hence the light and informal brushstrokes, the central figure of the 'charcutière' was painted from the model and the pose carefully studied.

Camille Pissarro | La charcutiére, 1883 | Tate Gallery

5 Important artworks at the Tate Gallery

Tate is a family of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall, known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate St Ives and Tate Liverpool + RIBA North.

When Tate first opened its doors to the public in 1897 it had just one site, displaying a small collection of British artworks.

Today we have four major sites and the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art, which includes nearly 70,000 artworks.

Henri Matisse | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate

Matisse painted this work while renting a house near Nice in the South of France.

The relaxed, relatively naturalistic style is typical of his work of the early 1920s.

It was bought by the Contemporary Art Society in 1926 with the intention of presenting it to the Tate Gallery.

Matisse wrote that the painting ‘will represent me as well as possible - moreover, I think that it will not frighten the acquisitions committee of the Modern Museum in London'.

In fact, the Tate initially turned it down, but accepted it in 1938.| Source: © Tate

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate Collection

Mao Zedong | Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom! / Lascia che mille fiori sboccino!

The Hundred Flowers Campaign, also termed the Hundred Flowers Movement (Chinese: 百花齐放), was a period from 1956-1957 in the People's Republic of China during which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) encouraged citizens to openly express their opinions of the Communist Party.

Following the failure of the campaign, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong conducted an ideological crackdown on those who criticized the party, which continued through 1959.

During the campaign, differing views and solutions to national policy were encouraged based on the famous expression by Mao:

"The policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend is designed to promote the flourishing of the arts and the progress of science".

Anselm Kiefer | Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom, 2000 | Metropolitan Museum of Art

Charles William Wyllie (1853-1923)

Charles William Wyllie was a British painter of landscape and marinescape.

Born in London he was the son of William Morison Wyllie and brother of William Lionel Wyllie (1851-1931).

While his brother William established a strong reputation as a marine painter and etcher, Charles moved away from straightforward representations of the British coastline and developed an interest in painting allegorical and mythological subjects beside the sea.

Philip Wilson Steer | The Bridge, 1887

Artist: Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942)
Medium: Oil paint on canvas;
Dimensions: Support: 495 × 655 × 20 mm / frame: 639 × 803 × 89 mm;
Collection: Tate;
Acquisition: Purchased 1941.

This picture was strongly attacked by the critics when it was first exhibited in 1887, and dismissed by one as 'either a deliberate daub or so much mere midsummer madness'.

Steer considered giving up painting in the wake of this disapproval.

Philip Hermogenes Calderon | Broken Vows, 1856

Artist: Philip Hermogenes Calderon (British painter, 1833-1898)

Medium: Oil paint on canvas

Dimensions Support: 914 × 679 Mm

Frame: 1205 × 980 × 104 Mm

Collection: Tate

Acquisition: Purchased 1947

The title of this painting suggests that the woman has recently discovered that her lover, whose initials are carved in the fence, has been unfaithful.

Further details, including the discarded necklace and dying flowers, indicate her unhappy situation. The ivy-covered wall may symbolise her previous belief that their love was everlasting.

Disappointed love was a popular theme in Victorian painting, and viewers were expected to unravel the situation from the symbols and expressions of the characters. | © Tate Britain