S.O.S.

Evelyn De Morgan prints bring together myth, angels and glowing Renaissance colour. An English painter of the later Pre-Raphaelite years, she filled her canvases with women, spirits and allegories of light overcoming darkness, painted with a jeweller's care for detail. Our collection includes fine art prints of Flora, Night and Sleep, The Love Potion and many more, along with her elegant figure and drapery studies.

About Evelyn De Morgan

Evelyn De Morgan was born Mary Evelyn Pickering in London on 30 August 1855 and died there on 2 May 1919. She was taught largely at home, began drawing lessons at 15, and after a short time at the South Kensington National Art Training School she moved to the newly founded Slade School of Art in 1873, where she won the Slade Scholarship.

Her uncle, the painter John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, shaped her eye more than anyone. He lived in Florence, and from 1875 she visited him there, falling for the painters of the early Italian Renaissance, Botticelli above all. Through Stanhope she came to know G. F. Watts, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt.

In 1887 she married the ceramicist William De Morgan. From 1895 until the First World War the couple spent half of every year in Florence. Both were spiritualists, and after she took up spiritualism her paintings turned more often to death, the soul and the darkness of the material world.

She also held firm views on the world around her. She signed the 1889 Declaration in Favour of Women's Suffrage, and she opposed war, painting more than fifteen pictures about the Boer War and the First World War. In 1916 she showed them at her London studio to raise money for the Red Cross.

Style and Subjects

De Morgan's pictures are easy to spot once you know what to look for: graceful, long-limbed women in flowing drapery, angels with bright haloes, and a strong play of light against dark. Her subjects come from Greek myth, the Bible and her own allegories about the soul, often showing figures chained, trapped or reaching toward the light.

Her early work used a quieter palette, while later paintings grew bolder in colour. For Flora she laid coloured oils over gold leaf, a method she developed from medieval Florentine altarpieces, which gives the surface a flat, decorative glow. Many of the prints in our collection are her preparatory studies of heads, arms and drapery, which show how carefully she built each figure.

Famous Works

• Cadmus and Harmonia (1877), De Morgan Collection, London. A scene from Greek myth, painted just a few years after she entered the Slade.
• Night and Sleep (1878), De Morgan Collection, London. An early allegory, painted when she was still in her early twenties.
• Flora (1894), De Morgan Collection, London. Her homage to Botticelli, painted in oils over gold leaf.
• Helen of Troy (1898), De Morgan Collection, London. Her portrait of the legendary beauty of Greek myth.
• The Love Potion (1903), De Morgan Collection, London. An allegorical picture from the years she spent half of each year in Florence.
• The Field of the Slain (c. 1914–1916), Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. One of her paintings made in response to the First World War.
• S.O.S. (c. 1914–1916), De Morgan Collection, London. A late work from the years of the First World War.

Decorating with De Morgan Prints

Her gentler mythological pictures, such as Flora with its gold-leaf glow, Helen of Troy and Night and Sleep, suit bedrooms, dressing rooms and quiet reading corners, where graceful figures feel calm rather than busy. Night and Sleep, with its theme of rest, is a natural choice above a bed.

Her darker allegories about the soul and its struggle toward the light, such as S.O.S., The Soul's Prison House or Lux in Tenebris, work well in a study, library or hallway with deep wall colours and wood furniture. For a lighter, gallery-style wall, try grouping several of her figure and drapery studies together; their fine drawing sits easily in a modern home.

FAQ

What art movement was Evelyn De Morgan part of?

She is linked with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and her work also belongs to Aestheticism and Symbolism. Her style drew heavily on early Italian Renaissance painters such as Botticelli.

What is Evelyn De Morgan's most famous painting?

Flora (1894) is one of her best-known works, often described as a homage to Botticelli. Night and Sleep, Helen of Troy and The Love Potion are also widely recognized.

Where can I see Evelyn De Morgan's original paintings?

Many of her works belong to the De Morgan Collection, cared for by the De Morgan Foundation. Others hang in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth, National Trust houses such as Wightwick Manor, and the Clark Art Institute in Massachusetts.

How can I recognize an Evelyn De Morgan painting?

Look for graceful female figures in flowing robes, glowing angels and haloes, and strong contrasts of light and dark. Her subjects are usually mythological, biblical or allegorical, with symbolic colour and very fine detail.

Was Evelyn De Morgan related to William De Morgan?

Yes, she married the ceramicist William De Morgan in 1887. The couple shared an interest in spiritualism and spent half of each year in Florence from 1895 until the First World War.

Related Artists

• John Roddam Spencer Stanhope — her uncle and teacher, who shaped her style
• George Frederic Watts — known to her from childhood and an influence on her allegorical painting
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti — Pre-Raphaelite painter she knew through her uncle
• Edward Burne-Jones — fellow late Pre-Raphaelite and an influence on her work
• Sandro Botticelli — the Renaissance master she studied in Florence