Strickland's Blues (Visual Imagery)
While describing one of Strickland's paintings, the narrator notes that it contains various rich hues: “They were sombre blues, opaque like a delicately carved bowl in lapis lazuli, and yet with a quivering lustre that suggested the palpitation of mysterious life." This striking visual imagery suggests the intensity of the colors in Strickland's paintings. At the same time, it also implies that there is something disquieting about the power of his work.
Musty Smell (Olfactory Imagery)
When the narrator finds Strickland in Paris, he visits the room he is living in. He notes that on the floor where he resides, “There was a foul and musty smell.” This olfactory imagery establishes the fact that Strickland's living quarters are shabbier than he initially anticipated.
Concertina Songs (Auditory Imagery)
While the narrator is in Tahiti, Tiare tells him about an evening she spent with Strickland and a young man lodging at her hotel. He says that the young man played music on a specific kind of accordion: “The young man had a concertina, and he played the tunes popular on the music-halls a dozen years before. They sounded strangely in the tropical night thousands of miles from civilisation.” This auditory imagery effectively stages the scene while also suggesting how different these popular songs sounded in the context of the Tahitian wilderness, as opposed to the "music halls" of years ago.
Wrench of the Heart Strings (Haptic Imagery)
After Blanche's suicide attempt, the nurse attending her tells the narrator and Dirk that Blache's vocal cords were burned by the acid she drank. The narrator says that this information makes him feel enraged and sad: “It gave me a sudden wrench of the heart-strings. I could have killed Strickland then, and I knew that my voice was trembling when I bade the nurse good-bye." This haptic imagery suggests the intensity of the antipathy towards Strickland that Blanche's condition has brought about in the narrator.
