K.W.: I’m not religious in the conventional sense. The Isenheim Altarpiece is made up of multiple images. All these things he has recorded and sketched ultimately go to produce the work of art, which is a summation of Mathis’ experiences. We’re in a painter’s studio that’s brimming over with ideas. He observes different things, he’s always painting, and these impressions finally motivate him to execute the Isenheim Altarpiece. Johan Engels: Keith was always emphasising that Mathis uses this statue to gather information. We decided on Christ’s battered body, turning it into a sculptural figure and thereby transforming the Isenheim Altarpiece into a threedimensional ‘landscape’, against which the singers can move. That led to our basic concept of taking a prominent detail that is central to the altarpiece and can stand for it. You can get close to the original image if you work with the world’s best set designers, but even then it remains a poor imitation of the original. For me it was particularly important not to parody the altarpiece in any way – which can easily happen if your stage presentation is two-dimensional. ![]() Keith Warner: This statue is first and foremost a visually inspired idea. You decided to take the figure of Jesus on the cross as the dominant element of your stage design. Paul Hindemith conceived his opera Mathis der Maler as a reimagining of Matthias Grünewald’s creation of the Isenheim Altarpiece and wrote the libretto himself. Director Keith Warner and set designer Johan Engels in conversation
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