The “Ophelia” Aesthetic from Pre-Raphaelite Muses appears in contemporary photography through its depiction of redheaded icons.
She drifts through the water while flowers fill the space around her as she extends her arms in a motion of complete submission. Her hair spreads out from her head in a circular shape which resembles a golden and copper-colored halo.
John Everett Millais painted Ophelia in 1852, but if you open Instagram or Vogue today, you will see her ghost everywhere. Visual history contains the “Ophelia” aesthetic which shows a tragic beautiful woman who exists in natural environments. The fine art photographer needs to study the Pre-Raphaelite muse because it teaches them about color theory and narrative and the romantic aspect of fatal destiny.
The Obsession with the Redhead
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) changed the definition of beauty. Before them, the meek blonde was the ideal. The artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti along with other artists dedicated their worship to the “Stunner” which they depicted as a female figure with a powerful facial structure and her distinctive red locks.
Elizabeth Siddal who played the first Ophelia in history owned this hair. The current redheaded photographic icons continue to display the particular enchanting qualities which stem from their ancestral roots of mystique and unusual nature. The combination of red hair with green foliage through complementary colors produces an instantly recognizable visual effect. Photographers who work today choose to cast redheads because this practice references the artistic traditions of the past which connect to mythological and natural and mystical elements.
Water as a Medium of Suspension
Why do we love the image of the woman in water? Water creates a state which makes time stand still.
The water in the Ophelia archetype serves as a protective element which preserves and sustains all things. The figure exists between death and life because she displays no indication that she is completely alive. She is in a liminal space. Water provides photographers with their most valuable resource when they want to create nude photographs. The substance both bends light rays and creates a smooth appearance of skin while enabling hair to achieve weightless positions.
The Aesthetic: The aesthetic features dim green colors together with moss and ferns and pale human skin tones. The swimming pool shows its bright blue water but this pool exists as the hidden waters which lie along riverbanks.
The Ethics of the Tragic Muse
The room requires immediate attention to its main design issue which we need to identify. It eroticizes tragedy. It turns a drowning woman into a decorative object.
Photographers operating in the present day must implement precise techniques to manage this situation. The contemporary version of Ophelia needs to develop into more than a passive character who suffers from her circumstances. She needs to stop working because she must defend her financial stability from these issues. She would exit the water at this moment instead of meeting her death while submerged in water. Her eyes reveal the main distinction between her because she appears either empty or fully engaged in the moment.
Julia Margaret Cameron’s Legacy
The discussion about this topic requires acknowledgment of Julia Margaret Cameron who photographed during the 19th century while maintaining the artistic values of the PRB. She used soft focus in her photograph as an intentional artistic decision. to make her photographs look like paintings. She understood that the harsh reality would completely eliminate all romantic emotions she felt. To achieve the Pre-Raphaelite look today, digital sharpness is your enemy. I will use filters to capture images that pass through fabrics while I add grain to my photos to create an effect which resembles a mythological tale.
The Eternal Return
The Pre-Raphaelite muse stays as our main subject because we need to understand her mysterious character. The world presents itself in perfect clarity through the image which shows a person who has disappeared into floral arrangements and aquatic scenery. Nature will take back everything we have built because it will eventually consume all human existence while showing us an ugly yet beautiful process of destruction.
