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Mikhail Vrubel and Robert le Diable
The foregoing bronze from the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, on display at the Guggenheim in New York in connection with its exhibit "1900 -- Art at the Crossroads" . Photo courtesy of Henry Snyder.
Our member Henry Snyder writes June 4, 2000:
"I visited The Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow last month. In
a room of paintings by Mikhail Vrubel there was a large bronze of Robert
and the Nuns. It is about three feet high, about four in diameter, a
circle of Robert and three nuns. Subject was identified but
not the fact that it was a depiction of characters in Meyerbeer's opera. I
believe it was by Vrubel as the whole room was devoted to his works."
Stephen Agus (webmaster, MFC) responds: June 4, 2000
It certainly was by Mikhail Vrubel !!!! Only THIS MONTH and for the
remainder of the summer, the Vrubel massive bronze sculpture, which I had the
pleasure of visiting yesterday is at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New
York!!! For that is the surprise appearance of Robert le Diable in
New York I alluded to in a recent update.
But unlike the Moscow Museum, the curators at the Guggenheim were not timid with
respect to this piece. There is a lengthy explanation of Vrubel's
fascination with the subject matter, that it was composed by Giacomo
Meyerbeer, and that it had premiered in 1831 -- furthermore, there is
quite a discussion of the plot of the entire opera! From my observation
point at the museum yesterday, it was clear to me that nearly every visitor was
pausing to read the entire explanation of the piece and the opera -- most likely
because few other pieces in the exhibit were discussed at length. What was
funny for us though was that I was wearing our "Meyerbeer Lives!"
T-shirt at the time, and no one seemed to notice my Robert le Diable Grand
Trio painting on the back!
We'd like to thank MFC member Ros Chelouche for bringing this piece to our
attention!
All pages concerning Robert le Diable on this web site:
