Othello (paintings) human figures encountered in intimate situations heightened by the contrast of light and dark, and various sexual metaphors. The second part contains about thirty canvases dealing with themes of intrigue, suspicion, and killing making direct references to the characters Iago, Othello, and Desdemona in Shakespeare’s tragedy. They reveal images of aggressiveness, intensity, and violence with webs of turbulent rhythm, whirling forms, and allegorical concepts as a means of conjuring imagery with layers of meanings and symbols that may visually reinterpret the intensity of events leading to Othello killing of Desdemona. Othello (paintings) Othello is a series of paintings executed in
Desdemona 1669. Pepys was present for a performance of "Othello" at the Cockpit on 11 October 1660, noting in his diary: "a pretty lady that sat by me called out to see Desdemona smothered." In the eighteenth century, the play was sometimes cut to heighten the tragic nobility of the protagonist. Bell's acting version, for example, omitted several moments including Desdemona's conversation with Emilia before her death—a death which is accomplished in Bells' version by stabbing rather than strangulation. In the nineteenth century, behind-the-scenes events in the lives of the play's performers garnered for "Othello" a shocking and sensational reputation. Charles