Hamlet

Originally part of a large installation titled Hamlet at the AMAM in the spring of 1981, this painting did not enter the museum’s permanent collection until more than a decade later. Enthralled by the interplay between imagination and perception, illusion and actuality, Saunders often chose to superimpose fictional characters such as Hamlet over older works on paper depicting landscapes or realistic scenes. Through collage, Saunders prompts the viewer to contemplate the distinction between fiction and reality. Only a fragment of the original multimedia installation in the King Sculpture Court, this version of Hamlet is just one incarnation of the artist’s intent.