Tristan and Isolde (Egusquiza)

The second painting, subtitled Life, was completed two years later and depicts the lovers embracing in the night, a scene from the second act of Wagner's opera.

The two works are part of a series of paintings by Egusquiza depicting Wagnerian subjects after he developed a fascination for Wagner's music in 1879 and met with the composer several times.

They received mixed reviews from contemporary French critics who disagreed on whether the paintings met the high standards set by Wagner's acclaimed opera.

Born in Santander, Spain, Rogelio de Egusquiza studied in Rome and Paris, including with the French academic painter Léon Bonnat.

[3] His artistic focus shifted dramatically after he attended a performance of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1879 and developed a decades-long fascination with the composer's works.

They received critical acclaim, including from Péladan who wrote that Egusquiza's depictions of Der Ring des Nibelungen and Tristan und Isolde were worthy illustrations of Wagner's music.

[22] The sea is in the background beyond the horizon, consistent with Wagner's stage directions, and surrounding Tristan and Isolde are several types of flowers—a common element in Egusquiza's works.

[8] Wagner used the night as a metaphor for a realm in which the lovers can freely express their desire for each other and for death, in contrast to the daytime when they must hide their love, stifled by honour and shame.

[25] Egusquiza, who published a treatise in the Bayreuther Blätter on the use of lighting in Wagner's works in 1885, strove to transcribe the day/night metaphor of Tristan und Isolde in his two paintings.

[11][26] A critic for Le Gaulois praised Tristan and Isolde (Death) during its 1911 exhibition at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, describing it as a particularly striking painting within Egusquiza's depictions of Wagner's works.

A reviewer for Le Gaulois introduced the work as a continuation of Egusquiza's Wagnerian series, writing that the artist had a profound understanding of the source material.