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One of the most anticipated STEINWAYS in history, “Pictures at an Exhibition” was conceived and hand painted by STEINWAY ARTIST and world-renowned visual artist Paul Wyse. This new art case STEINWAY & SONS Model D concert grand piano unites Modest Mussorgsky’s immortal work for solo piano with classical painting, Russian history, and meticulous STEINWAY craftsmanship in a historic first.
JOURNEY THROUGH imagination
In 2012, pianist and portrait artist Paul Wyse proposed a STEINWAY based on the masterwork Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. It was to be the first STEINWAY & SONS art case piano inspired by a musical composition. It depicts a dynamic journey through the artistic imaginations of Mussorgsky and his friend, Viktor Hartmann, who died in 1874 at the age of 39. Mussorgsky and others put together an exhibition of Hartmann’s works to honor the late artist, and Mussorgsky was later inspired to write his famous masterwork, which is a musical promenade through an art museum.
The “Pictures at an Exhibition” instrument is a “capriccio” — an imaginary landscape or imaginary place. Wyse borrowed the idea from the Dutch masters of the 1600s, who combined elements of many physical places to create one location. The STEINWAY features paintings of immortal images from Russian history and folklore: landscape, Baba Yaga’s clock hut, the Great Gate of Kiev, and many more.
“So much of Russian history incorporates fairy tale and legend... this piano is not about trying to nail down a particular time frame. It’s about bringing a great deal of mystery, history and legend to life in a piano that serves almost as… as a cathedral, if you will.”
PAUL WYSE
The instrument is a majestic nine-foot STEINWAY Model D built to time-honored standards and the most exacting musical specifications. It is an unprecedented artistic triumph blending music, design, history, narrative storytelling, mythology, psychology, and visual art.