Brunnhilde with Heart

Dana Schutz

2012 · Recto: Ink and wax crayon on paper; verso: Ink on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

As Schutz puts it, "Brünnhilde is a fascinating character, very powerful but conflicted. She takes the whole world down, as well as herself." One of the most important protagonists of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Brünnhilde is both a heroine who protects the unborn child of her half-brother in defiance of her father Wotan’s wishes and also one of the reasons for the twilight of the gods: immolating herself in the process, she causes Valhalla to burn. Schutz, who is acclaimed for powerfully painted and fantastical works that make use of a bright, almost Fauvist palette, drew Brünnhilde as part of a group of drawings she made for a commission honoring the Metropolitan Opera’s new productions of the Ring Cycle in 2011–12.

Artist

Dana Schutz

Date

2012

Medium

Recto: Ink and wax crayon on paper; verso: Ink on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Dodie Kazanjian and Calvin Tomkins, 2016