Karlheinz Oswald - Model of the Triad/Rhine Daughters

The object is a model by the artist Karlheinz Oswald for his 2004 sculpture "Rhine Maidens", which appears to 'dance' on the banks of the Rhine on the Malakoff Terraces in Mainz. The three mythical water spirits named Wellgunde, Woglinde and Floßhilde come from Richard Wagner's opera "The Ring of the Nibelungs" (1848 to 1874) and guard the legendary Rhinegold.

In Oswald's interpretation, the Rhine Maidens are three delicate dancing, female figures that seem to float on three small pedestals, detached from the element of the Rhine water. In these sculptures, the artist succeeds in depicting dynamism and speed in a special way. This contradicts the characteristics that we associate with the heavy material iron from which the Rhine Maidens were cast. The fluidly modeled surfaces and the ecstatic, expansive postures create an almost weightless expression.