Watercolour and gold paint on paper and board
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-beuys-747" aria-label="More by Joseph Beuys" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Beuys</a>
Bathroom Circe
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
abstraction
Circe
classical myths: gods and heroes
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
fragmentation
gestural
irregular forms
Joyce, James, ‘Ulysses’, 1922
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
mysticism
non-representational
religion and belief
shamanism
texture
paper unique watercolour gold paint board
Bathroom of Circe
support: 213 × 304 mm
frame: 680 × 525 × 38 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<p>Circe is a figure from Greek mythology, sometimes depicted as a witch or sorceress. She transformed her enemies into animals by giving them magic potions, a fact which reflects Beuys's interest in shamanism. This work, which is a collage of paper on board, also shows the artist's interest in the Irish writer James Joyce. Joyce's epic novel 'Ulysses', contains an episode in the second part called 'Circe', and from 1958 to 1961 Beuys wrote two new chapters for 'Ulysses'. Joyce is believed by some critics to be the addressee of the group of drawings Beuys assembled called 'The secret block for a secret person in Ireland'.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
abstraction Circe classical myths: gods and heroes emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities fragmentation gestural irregular forms Joyce, James, ‘Ulysses’, 1922 literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) mysticism non-representational religion and belief shamanism texture