Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut: All Art References in the Film

On the 25th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999), an analysis of the film's extensive art references reveals a complex symbolic network. The film, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, follows Dr. Bill Harford's nocturnal journey through a twilight New York after his wife Alice confesses adulterous fantasies. Artworks appear throughout: at the Ziegler Christmas party, Giulio Bergonzoli's Gli amori degli angeli (1822-1868) and Christiane Kubrick's Paula on Red are visible. Christiane Kubrick's other symbolist paintings in the Harford home evoke fin-de-siècle Vienna. In Somerson's orgy scene, references include a postcard of Raphael's Cherubim from the Sistine Madonna (1513-14), Henri Matisse's Nu bleu IV (1952), and inspiration from Nicolas Chorier's L'Académie des Dames. At Sharky's Café, Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Astarte Syriaca (1877) and John William Waterhouse's Ophelia (1894) appear. These references build a figurative path between Eros and Thanatos, mirroring the film's themes of jealousy, desire, and mortality.