Hermann Nitsch: Bayreuth Walküre & historical works

The exhibition Bayreuth Walküre & historical works presents a selection of works created in the context of the Bayreuth Festival. It is complemented by a historical room offering a comprehensive insight into the multifaceted work of Hermann Nitsch. On view are pieces ranging from his first actions in the 1960s to his final large-scale painting performance in Bayreuth. The exhibition will be on view from June 26 to July 26, 2025, at Galerie Kandlhofer, Brucknerstraße 4, 1040 Vienna.

In the summer of 2021, Hermann Nitsch was invited by the Bayreuth Festival to provide scenic accompaniment to a concert version of Richard Wagner's Walküre. On this occasion, the artist created an extensive painting campaign for the three acts of the play. Each act was accompanied by a self-contained painting action, in which the score transformed scene by scene into luminous colours. Nitsch wished to present a painting action where the colours of poured and smeared paint spanned the whole spectrum of the rainbow, attempting to compete with the blazing colouration of Wagnerian music. In Nitsch´ words, "the events of the actual act of painting are to be like music. Sounds turn into colours and Wagner's score lures me into choosing my colours.“

In the process, almost 1.000 litres of paint were spilled by ten of his painting assistants, while he choreographed the actions from the side of the stage, synchronising the pictorical actions with Wagner's live music. Each act was accompanied by a specific color palette: blues and greens for the storm in the first act, intense reds for the union of Siegmund and Sieglinde, and orange and yellow tones for the fire in the third act.  

The result is a floor and wall paintings from the basis for a cross-disciplinary overall installation. This final gesamtkunstwerk or total art work, directly connects with Wagners works, wich also has to be understood as a gesamtkunstwerk experienced through all the senses, as Nitsch explained.   

The collaboration between Nitsch and Bayreuth Walküre was the artists last major public action, and it represents a singular moment at the intersection of action art and opera, challenging conventions, provoking deep reflection on the nature of art and performance, and finally transforming the music into an intense visual experience.