To the Fifth Symphony by Eugene Savage (American, 1873-1978).

One of the most striking and vivid Art Deco paintings we have ever offered, this dramatization of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was made by Eugene Savage, probably in the 1930s at the height of his career. The scene is highly theatrical, with clouds and mountains in shades of periwinkle and violet, a shaft of light going up to the heavens on the left, and the figure of Orpheus in the lower right, his lyre on the ground, walking along a stream and dropping yellow flowers to the earth below. Savage was, arguably, America's most successful and prolific muralist in the Art Deco style, with important surviving paintings dating from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best known for a spectacular set of murals illustrating the history and lore of Hawaii commissioned by Matson Shipping Line for the S.S. Lurline, executed in the 1940s but not installed until the 1950s. The artist also painted other series of murals and paintings, include an enormous mural for the Texas Centennial Buildings in Dallas, a group for the Elks National Memorial in Chicago, and a series celebrating the Seminole Indians and their home in the Everglades, now held by the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville. He also executed works for other public buildings in Chicago and Indiana, and for Columbia and Yale Universities. This painting is oil on canvas.