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The Brooklyn Museum

Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Coatlicue




signature image

Judy Chicago (American, b. 1939). The Dinner Party (Heritage Floor; detail), 1974–79. Porcelain with rainbow and gold luster, 48 x 48 x 48 ft. (14.6 x 14.6 x 14.6 m). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation, 2002.10. © Judy Chicago. Photograph by Jook Leung Photography

Coatlicue
Mythic, worshipped by the Aztecs of Central America, 1248–1521

The Aztec serpent goddess of life and death, mother of the gods, stars, and the moon, Coatlicue was impregnated by a falling ball of feathers. In one legend, her children, enraged by her pregnancy, conspire to kill her; at the moment of her death, she gives birth to a fully grown and armed Huitzilopochtli, who then slays many of his brothers and sisters. In another version of the story, Huitzilopochtli is born in time to kill his brothers and sisters before they can murder Coatlicue.

Related Place Setting

Kali

Related Heritage Floor Entries

Alukah
Arianhrod
Ereshkigal
The Furies
Hecate
Hel
Irkalla

Morrigan
Nephthys
The Norns
Rhiannon
Tuchulcha
The Valkyries

Last updated January 29, 2007.
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