Tags
Hoffmann, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Les oiseaux dans la charmille, Music, Offenbach, Olympia, Opera
Olympia ~ Watercolour with gouche highlights on Saunders Waterford hot pressed paper, 135 x 215 mm.
Olympia, from Offenbach’s opera, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, is a mechanical doll with whom the titular Hoffmann falls in love, thanks to a pair of magic spectacles which makes her appear human. Predictably, it all ends rather poorly for all concerned, as, after an argument between her co-creators, Spalanzani and Coppelius, the latter angrily tears her to pieces and Hoffmann is ridiculed for his illusion.
Detail.
I imagine Spalanzani and Coppelius basically agreed to just pile everything but the kitchen sink on her head.
Prints of Olympia are available via Redbubble.
Himmapaan 