Musée municipal de Cognac
Date: 1911
Technique: Oil on canvas
This portrait of Margaret on the Sabbath was inspired by an episode of the Faust legend.
After a period of separation, Faust seduces Margaret, who accidentally kills her mother with a sleeping potion Faust had given her. Margaret is pregnant, and her torment is further increased when Faust and Mephisto kill her enraged brother in a sword fight. Mephisto seeks to distract Faust by taking him to the witches' sabbath of Walpurgis Night. But he cannot free his mind of the tragic Margaret. Suddenly, out of the fires of hell, he has a vision: Margaret, pale as a specter rises up her dead child in her arms. Faust orders Mephisto to take him to her. However, he finds that it is too late; Margaret has been imprisoned, accused of the murder of her baby, and she rejects Faust's offer of rescue. At the end of the drama, as Faust and Mephisto flee the dungeon, a voice from heaven announces Margaret's salvation.
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