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Tannhäuser
About the Artwork
Tannhäuser, the male figure seated on the left, does not seem fully engaged in this merry scene. Among pale bodies and pastel hues, he alone is cast in shadow. The Wagner opera that inspired the painting centers on a struggle between profane and sacred love, and the tension between them appears embodied in the brooding Tannhäuser.
Inscriptions
Signed lower right: Fantin 86
Provenance
1890: Bought from the artist by Durand-Ruel, Paris, France, February 21, 1890 (stock number 2636), 1890: Sold to Durand-Ruel, New York, NY, March 6, 1890 (stock number 1000) 1890-1891: (Durand-Ruel, New York, NY, January 4, 1891, sold to J. H. Wade) 1891-1916: Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Wade, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1916-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942). 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943). The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957). Fifteenth Anniversary Exhibition. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (November 4, 1965-January 2, 1966). Henri Fantin-Latour. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (April 28-June 6, 1966). Richard Wagner: Visions d'artistes. D'Auguste Renoir à Anselm Kiefer. Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland (September 22, 2005-January 29, 2006). Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 18, 2010); Van Gogh Museum, 1070 AJ Amsterdam, Netherlands (February 18-June 6, 2010).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836–1904)
- Date
- 1886
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 123.5 x 139.5 x 14 cm (48 5/8 x 54 15/16 x 5 1/2 in.); Unframed: 86.4 x 103.3 cm (34 x 40 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade
- Accession no.
- 1916.1038
More by Henri Fantin-Latour in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009294
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