The Palais Garnier Callas Opera Journey | Kristjana S Williams

The Palais Garnier Callas Opera Journey, a limited edition giclee print by artist Kristjana S Williams.

The story behind the artwork:

Created exclusively for the V&A to celebrate their exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics. This design was also made into an amazing diorama in a very low edition of 10, sold exclusively in the V&A Shop.

This limited edition print reimagines a scene at the Opera. A host of colourful characters are arriving at the Opera with Maria Callas, in a white dress, forming the centre of the print. The beautiful staircase and building are taken from the Opera Garnier in Paris designed by Charles Garnier. The theatre stage has been inserted along with sumptuous red velvet curtains to frame the spectacle. The swirl in the sea shells mirror the treble clef in music partitions. The horse references in the print refer to the fact that historically people could tell how popular a show was by the amount of horse manure in front of the theatre after the performance. The more manure, the more popular the show!