Villa Wahnfried, 2010
C-print
35 × 30 in
Edition of 5
March 31, 2025
This is what it looks like when a king falls in love with a composer. Raїssa Venables' dazzling composite photograph offers a panoramic view of the Grand Hall in the German villa known as Wahnfried, which was home to the composer Richard Wagner. The palatial villa was financed by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who harbored passionate romantic feelings for Wagner, to the composer's enormous benefit. The piano seen here is a custom built Bechstein piano, which was a birthday gift from the King on Wagner's birthday in 1864—Wagner used the instrument to write his final compositions.
Venables embraces the distortions inherent in the process of combining multiple photographs, allowing the conflicting perspectives to create flights of fancy, such as the checkered tile floor that seems to swirl with cresting waves. The overall impression is one of opulent intoxication, as if the ornate artistic surroundings have altered our senses. One might imagine themselves to be a Bavarian king, drunk on love and music.
