Sketch for 'Petrouchka' by Stravinsky, for Metropolitan Opera

John Wenger's vibrant study captures the tragic puppet protagonist of Stravinsky's 1911 ballet in expressionist fervor. Rendered in bold gestural strokes—reds, yellows, blues—the composition conveys Petrouchka's anguished humanity amid the chaos of a St. Petersburg carnival. Wenger's design work for the Metropolitan Opera bridged visual art and theatrical production during a period when American artists increasingly engaged with European modernism and avant-garde performance. The painting's energetic surface and psychological intensity reflect early-twentieth-century efforts to translate musical and narrative drama into visual form.