Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePainting1802

The Death of Socrates

François-Xavier Fabre · 1802

A Neoclassical painting imagining the moment Socrates drank the fatal hemlock, surrounded by grieving companions, based on Plato's Phaedo.

Depicts Socrates's death by hemlock, the defining moment of his life and philosophy as recorded by his followers.

Ask Socrates about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Painting of Socrates seated on a bed in a dark stone cell, raising a red cup with his right hand as men around him react with grief. A man in green holds his head, and a young man lies face-down at the bottom right, and a figure in red draped cloth sits on the floor. A barred window is at upper left.
François-Xavier Fabre, The Death of Socrates, 1802. Museum of Art and History, Geneva.

About this source

What it is

This oil painting by François-Xavier Fabre, made in 1802, shows Socrates in his prison cell raising a cup of poison while the men around him react with sorrow. It now hangs in the Museum of Art and History in Geneva.

Why it matters

The scene comes from Plato's account of Socrates's final hours, a story that shaped how later generations imagined the philosopher's courage facing death. Fabre, like many Neoclassical painters, used this ancient subject to explore ideals of virtue and calm acceptance of fate.

Look closer

  • What does Socrates's calm pose suggest about how the artist wanted viewers to see him?
  • Why might an artist in 1802, centuries after Socrates lived, choose to paint this scene?
  • What does the painting leave out that we only know from written sources?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Socrates on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Socrates sources

Meet the AI Socrates →
Book

Secondary source

Apology

Plato · c. 395 BC

Line engraving in a multi-line border showing a bust of a bearded man with curly hair and a furrowed brow, on a plinth. The label below reads SOCRATE. Lower right reads Landon direx.Painting

Secondary source

Line Engraving of Socrates by Landon

Charles Paul Landon

Cover of a 1925 Italian paperback, Platone, Dialoghi III, Critone, tan cardboard with red double border. Handwritten inscription at top, red handwritten marking near bottom. Publisher Vallecchi Editore Firenze.Book

Secondary source

Crito

Plato · c. 400 BC

Engraving of a bearded, balding bust of Socrates in an arched niche, set on a stone pedestal. Inscription below reads 'SOCRATES SOPHRONISCI FILIUS ATHENIESIS', with credits 'P.P. Rubens delin.' and 'P. Pontius sculpsit, 1638'.Painting

Secondary source

Socrates Engraving after Rubens by Pontius

Peter Paul Rubens · 1638

Black-and-white photograph of a white marble bust of a bearded man, shown from the front and slightly turned, with deep-set eyes, a curly beard and hair, against a dark background. The image is a glass lantern slide with labels reading Socrate and Université de Louvain.Photograph

Secondary source

Roman Marble Bust of Socrates

between 1839 and 1939

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Socrates now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions