The Sopranos

Celebrating the opening of the 2008–09 season
Francesco Clemente
June 5, 2008 – September 26, 2008

Francesco Clemente’s The Sopranos featured portraits of eight divas who figured prominently in the Met’s 2008–09 season: Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Karita Mattila, Anna Netrebko, and Deborah Voigt. Clemente’s paintings, created over a four-month period in New York and Paris, portrayed them as characters in their upcoming roles. Inspired by the divas, as well as guided by the artist’s distinctive talent for portraiture, Gallery Met Director Dodie Kazanjian invited Clemente to make this unique set of paintings, explaining, “When else in the history of opera have eight leading opera singers of the day had their portraits painted by a single leading artist?”

Anna Netrebko, 2008
watercolor on paper
14 x 10 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
June 4, 2008 (Paris)

Angela Gheorghiu as Magda, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
April 7, 2008 (New York)

Susan Graham as Marguerite, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
May 20, 2008 (New York)

Renée Fleming as Thaïs, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
March 5, 2008 (New York)

Natalie Dessay as Amina, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
March 10, 2008 (New York)

Karita Mattila as Salome, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
February 18, 2008 (New York)

Diana Damrau as Lucia, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
April 28, 2008 (New York)

Deborah Voigt as Gioconda, 2008
oil on linen
92 x 46 inches
Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, NY
April 8, 2008 (New York)

Installation view of Francesco Clemente’s The Sopranos.

Installation view of Francesco Clemente’s The Sopranos.