Kiefer’s works often draw upon the Bible, mysticism, and historical events, transforming them into contemporary myths that embody humanity’s collective memory through a wide range of materials and techniques. The title of this work refers to Elisabeth of Austria, who married Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria at the age of sixteen and became Empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Independent in spirit and devoted to personal freedom, Elisabeth found life within the traditional and highly restrictive Habsburg court deeply oppressive.
The ship positioned at the center of the work symbolizes her longing for freedom and escape from the constraints of court life. To distance herself from its rigid conventions, Elisabeth frequently traveled by sea throughout the Mediterranean and Aegean regions. She is known to have spent time at the Achilleion Palace on the Greek island of Corfu, where she enjoyed writing poetry and wandering through the surrounding landscape.
As numerous portraits attest, Elisabeth was celebrated for her long, lustrous dark hair. In this work, hair functions not only as a symbol of idealized feminine beauty but also as a sign of self-sacrifice, constraint, and the pressures required to maintain such an image. The strands of hair that drape over and entangle the departing ship evoke the weight of the social expectations and psychological burdens that Elisabeth carried throughout her life.