Anna Pavlova as 'The Swan'

1911 · Painting

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Wo ist „Anna Pavlova as 'The Swan'“ heute? Sammlung: Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Derzeit nicht ausgestellt. Geprüft 25. September 2026.

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, Vereinigtes Königreich

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Geprüft: vor 17 Tagen
Unverändert seit: 25. Sept. 2026
Quelle: Das Museum

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Über das Gemälde

Dancer Anna Pavlova appealed greatly to sculptors and painters. This portrait of her in costume for her most famous role Le cygne (The Swan), is by the distinguished painter Sir John Lavery.

The Swan was a short solo, created for Pavlova by choreographer Mikhail Fokine. It followed the last minutes of the dying bird's life, and was popularly known as The Dying Swan. She wears a white tutu with stiffened wings over the skirt, her face framed in feathers and with a jewelled headdress. On her breast is a blue glass jewel. Many dancers who later performed the solo wore a red jewel, suggesting that the swan has been shot, but the original idea was rather that the swan, at the end of its life, is drifting and drowning in the water.

Pavlova was extremely exacting about her costumes. The tarlatan underskirts of her tutu had to be of exactly the right degree of starchiness. As she could not find what she wanted in either London or Paris, thousands of yards were sent from America every year. Her Swan costume was never worn more than twice without the tarlatan skirts being renewed.

Victoria and Albert Museum