Gaetano Previati is, with Segantini and Pellizza da Volpedo, one of the protagonists of Italian Divisionism and among the most sensitive interpreters of symbolist themes. The painting belongs to the painter's first season, linked to the late-romantic taste and Scapigliatura, which precedes the conversion to the technique of color division. The story of Paolo and Francesca - narrated by Dante and widely exploited by the nineteenth-century figurative repertoire - is not depicted in a didactic way: Previati aspires to paint emotions and ideas. From the claustrophobic horizontal format, occupied by the figures of the two unhappy lovers, lying on their deathbed and pierced by the same sword, emerges a vigorous and dark image, which stands out for its melodramatic emphasis and exasperated naturalism.