Odysseus and Polyphemus

In the ninth book of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and his men get out of the Cyclops' cave by clinging to the bellies of his sheep, after blinding the giant Polyphemus with a sharpened stake. Once the ship is pulling away, Odysseus cannot resist shouting back at him, and even calls out his real name. Polyphemus hurls a huge rock towards the voice, then prays to his father Poseidon, the god of the sea, to punish the man who blinded him, and that curse keeps Odysseus wandering for years. Böcklin painted the moment in 1896, in oil and tempera on a long panel 1.5 metres wide, the blind giant on the rocks lifting his stone and Odysseus taunting him from the stern of the boat. The Museum of Fine Arts acquired it in 2012.