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Dimensions: 120.5 by 151cm., 47½ by 59½in.
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Provenance: Sale: Christie's, London, 1 December 1989, lot 1064
Paul-Loup Sulitzer, France (his sale: Paris, Binoche & Godeau, 4 December 1995, lot 54)
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Exhibited: Tokyo, Shibuya, Symbolist Exhibition, 1970, no. 15-1
Vienna, Kunstforum, Der Kuss der Sphinx: Symbolismus in Belgien, 2007-2008, no. 83, illustrated in the catalogue
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Literature: Philippe Jullian ed., French Symbolist Painters: Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Redon and their followers, London, 1972, p. 60, mentioned
Flammarion ed., ABCdaire du Smbolisme et de l'Art Nouveau, Paris, p. 114, illustrated
Michael Gibson, Symbolism, Cologne, 2006, p. 105, illustrated
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Notes: The present work depicts the death of Siegfried as it occurs in act III of Wagner's fourth opera from Der Ring, Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods).
Like many Symbolist painters, Degroux was a great admirer of Wagner. Following a pilgrimage to Bayreuth in 1896, Degroux executed a number of portraits of Wagner, and painted a series of works inspired by his Ring der Nibelungen, including Sieglinde et Siegmund, Fafner, La Chevauchée des Walkyres and the present work.