
Masterpiece
Narcissus
Details
Artist
Caravaggio · Baroque
Where
Palazzo BarberiniAbout
One of the strangest compositions in Western painting: a perfect circle formed by the youth and his reflection, joined at the knees. There is no background — only Narcissus, the pool, and darkness. The reflection is deliberately less finished than the boy above, as if the illusion is already slipping. Caravaggio reduced myth to its psychological core: self-love as a closed loop with no way out.