A softly rounded, sheet-draped ghost with two simple oval black eyes and no mouth stands just right of center, wearing a neat black bow at its neck. Beside it, at lower left, an ornate black wrought-iron candelabra holds dripping lit candles, and a faint, hazy second wisp lingers in the upper-left background, suggesting an unfinished spirit.

Warm candlelight glows up from the lower left, backlighting the ghost and rising in a dreamy bloom through the drapery before fading into deep shadow toward dark, vignetted corners. Heavy burgundy curtains fill the background in a theatrical, stage-like arrangement. Thick impasto strokes and palette-knife ridges build the drapery and candle-glow streaks, with the coarse canvas weave showing through in the darkest passages.