Design for the Set of the Ballet 'Narcisse', premiered at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 1911
Léon Bakst Russian, born present day Belarus
Not on view
Bakst created this impressive décor for the one-act ballet ‘Narcisse’. It centers around the Greek mythological figure of Narcissus, who falls in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. The story is set at the shrine of Pomona, a mythological goddess associated with the abundance of nature. The latter aspect comes through clearly in the rich green setting Bakst imagined for the ballet, which echoes the sensibilities of the Art Nouveau style and was highly praised by contemporaries. In a review of the performance, he was described as ‘a really able tree-draughtsman with a fondness for heavy plume-like foliage’ and ‘a landscape painter very sensitive to the lines of hills and the building of trees, a colourist without fear and a remarkable manipulator of water-colour’.
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