Belgian art between Symbolism and Art Nouveau has one of its most prominent representatives in the painter Henry de Groux. Among his best works are his monumental pastels. Lempertz was able to successfully sell three such works from the Bernard de Leye Collection in 2021. This pastel follows on from these works in terms of both content and technique. It bears witness to Groux's enthusiasm for the works of Richard Wagner, whose operas were regularly performed in Brussels at the time. The "Ride of the Valkyries" is closely related to the painting of the same subject from the de Leye Collection (Lempertz, July 15, 2021, lot 255). Comparable is the intense, dynamic and dense ductus and the virtuoso technique of pastel painting. However, the fig...