Midsummer Night's Tour

Join Smithsonian American Art Museum Director Elizabeth Broun on a virtual tour of Hermia and Helena by Washington Allston.

Hermia and Helena, heroines in William Shakespeare's comedy Midsummer Night's Dream,were close friends whose loyalties were tested when they became rivals in love.

Washington Allston underscores their intimate bond by painting them almost as one figure with only one pair of hands and feet visible, and sharing a single book.

Elizabeth Broun offers additional insight into this painting in her Director's Choice tour.

Pictured: Washington Allston, 1779–1843, Hermia and Helena, before 1818, oil, 30 3/8 x 25 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program and made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, Catherine W. Myer, and the National Institute Gift.