Richard Wagner tra tele e spartito. Se l'opera del compositore tedesco fu fonte d'ispirazione per tanti pittori suoi contemporanei, le sue relazioni personali con gli artisti si snodarono invece tra incomprensioni, scontri e idolatrie

[Autom. eng. transl.] No composer has had, in history, a fundamental role like that of Wagner in orienting the wide-ranging evolution of culture, far beyond the musical sphere, but rather strongly in the visual arts, in literature, in philosophy. In fact, there was no "Mozart", or "Beethovenian" painting, but instead, especially in the 1880s and the outbreak of the Great War, an endless production of paintings, prints, engravings, sculptures and inspired illustrations to the characters of Wagner's dramas, as well as to his own figure. It is therefore natural to ask what relationship he had with the art world: if he was a passionate lover, if he liked to visit museums, if he attended painters. Well ... no, or rather, to a much lesser extent than one might legitimately have expected. His difficult contacts with Renoir and Böcklin clearly testify to this, while on the part of other artists, such as Egusquiza and Makart, there was instead a sort of idolatry towards him.