Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle is a dark, deep, and many-layered tale, told in one chilling act in just over an hour. This opera was written in 1911 with a libretto in Hungarian, loosely based on the French folktale “Bluebeard.”  

The story is a simple one, and the imagery is strong and dark. Bluebeard and his new wife Judith enter his castle after having eloped, and Judith insists that she must open all the doors to let the light into the dark rooms. With every door she opens, the hall brightens with more light, but each room is filled with gruesome sights, and the presence of blood everywhere in the castle becomes clearly evident the brighter it gets. Symbolically, this opera illustrates the hidden emotional “rooms” in a person’s psyche; as Judith opens the doors, she is symbolically delving into the depths of her new husband’s mind and the many different layers that make him who he is, and learning - a little too late - exactly what he is.

The six paintings that have been inspired by this opera illustrate specific moments within the performance, as well as the overall mood. All six have many layers of texture, applied with knife, spatula and other implements. Many layers of paint have also been applied using various techniques including dry brushing, watered-down washes, scrubbing and rubbing/dabbing with a cloth. The many washes of colour symbolize the many layers within an individual’s mind and personality, and the multi-faceted nature of humanity itself.  

The three abstract paintings depict three periods of time. The darkest, most serene of the three paintings is of the time when Bluebeard and Judith first enter the castle - it’s dark, but everything is still calm. A hint of the future is evident in the colours: while the painting is predominantly rendered in shades of muted blues, small amounts of yellow - symbolizing the light - and the red of the blood are layered within the blues. The texture of this piece is heavy, perhaps foreboding, but the marks are smoother and have less urgency than in the other two abstracts. 

The second of the three abstracts portrays the point when Judith has opened half of the doors. It is more colourful; the light has started to illuminate the hall and with it the blood that is everywhere in the castle. The texture of this piece is busier than the first one, signifying the rising tensions as the doors are opened. 

The last of the abstracts is by far the brightest and bloodiest of the three. With the last door opened, and the other wives of Bluebeard exposed to her, the hall is filled with light and blood, and Judith realizes all too late that she must join them. The texture in this piece is much more severe, with many more marks than the first or the second (some of the marks were created with the use of a fondue fork), and the painting exudes an almost frantic feel, expressing the emotions of Judith as she is being forced to take her place beside Bluebeard’s other wives. 

The three narrative paintings portray three specific rooms. The point of view is the same in each painting, and the layout is the same as well. This is done to create a consistent feel, and to demonstrate the symbolic similarities between the rooms, despite the different scenes within them. The faint silhouette of Judith is visible in the doorway of each room, her small scale contrasting with the size of the rooms to create a sense of oppression. The texture is used to give the walls and doors a feel of realistic decay, and to subtly suggest the varying contents of the rooms.

The primarily red painting is the first room, the torture chamber: it is described as being covered in blood. The stage directions for the colour of this room indicate “blood red.”

The green painting is the third door, the garden. When Judith first opens this door it seems like all is well, until she notices that the garden is being fed by blood. The stage direction for this room is "green."

The final painting, in darkened blue, portrays the sixth door, which opens onto a pool of tears - the tears of his wives. The stage direction for this one is simply darkness.

All six canvases have been painted red around the edges, again to symbolize the blood that is so pervasive in this tale, and the uniting blood of mankind, all of whom can relate to locking away hidden aspects of themselves and deciding whom to let open their doors.