The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Brünnhilde in Twilight of the Gods

Brünnhilde in Twilight of the Gods

1894
(French, 1840–1916)
France, 19th century
lithograph
Image: 38 x 29.2 cm (14 15/16 x 11 1/2 in.)
Gift of William Mathewson Milliken, in memory of H. Oothout Milliken 1945.389
Catalogue raisonné: Mellerio 130
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

This is the second lithograph Redon created depicting Brünnhilde. The first was published in the journal la Revue wagnérienne and shows her as a fierce warrior with a helmet, shield, and armor.

Description

This print shows Odilon Redon’s passion for the music of 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner. Brünnhilde is a main character in the final chapter of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung, an epic four-part operatic piece composed over several decades. Created after Redon’s extensive experimentation with and mastery of lithography, the print reveals the medium’s similarity to drawing in the range of marks used to sketch its subject. Redon delicately outlined flowers in the background and crosshatched to highlight Brünnhilde’s face before turning his crayon on its side to darken her hair and chest.
  • ?-1945
    William Mathewson Milliken [1889-1978], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    1945-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Francis, Henry S. "Redon's 'Brünnehilde': A Lithograph." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 33, no. 6 (June 1946): 95
     Mentioned: p. 95 www.jstor.org
    Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949. Published as: Brünnehilde. Mentioned: p. 58 archive.org
  • Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19, 2021-January 23, 2022).
    Art Nouveau in France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 1-September 1, 1979).
  • {{cite web|title=Brünnhilde in Twilight of the Gods|url=false|author=Odilon Redon|year=1894|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.389