Kunsthalle Mannheim
)Jugendstil-Bau > Ebene 1 > Galerie 11
Intro
In this full-frame depiction of Medea, Anselm Feuerbach explores the Argonaut legend, one of the most famous subjects of Greek mythology. But why, with her magical powers, is the king’s daughter hiding her face in her left arm and turning away from us? The dagger at her feet provides the answer. Medea has just taken her revenge on her husband, Jason, who left her for another woman, by killing her own sons.
In this painting, oriented on the classical ideal, Feuerbach chooses to depict, in a quiet manner, devoid of dramatic effects, the moment immediately following the infanticide—for the dagger appears to have has just dropped from her hand—and not the moment prior to the deed. Instead of portraying Medea as a wild Fury and sorceress, he presents us with a deeply melancholy woman, placing her emotional pain in the foreground. In so doing, he brings the whole extent of the tragedy to life, without showing the murder itself. His painting lives from the depiction of an emotional state—as opposed to an expressive act.
Kunsthalle Mannheim
Transkription
Don’t you agree that this young woman seems desperate? Rather downcast, deeply unhappy – just look at the way she is sitting with her head turned away from us. She is covering her face with her left arm. But what’s that? There’s a dagger lying below her foot! What happened to her?
In Medea with her Dagger, Anselm Feuerbach explored the legend of the Argonauts from Greek mythology. In this story princess Medea, a sorceress, is abandoned by her husband. In revenge, she kills her own children, or rather their mutual sons. This is what oppresses her – the cruelty of killing her own innocent children.
The dagger appears to have just fallen from her hand. Feuerbach is one of the most important 19th-century German painters and, in this tableau, narrates the story calmly and without dramatic effects. The instant before the child murders is far less oppressive than the moment after. One look at Medea’s face makes us feel her severe emotional turmoil.
Feuerbach could have shown her as a raging fury and sorceress. Instead, he depicts her as a deeply melancholic being. He portraits the whole tragedy of the legend without showing the act itself. The deed - the murder - pales before her overwhelming emotions.
