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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.
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