Gustave Moreau: Inside the Heart of the French Symbolist Movement
By Isabelle Turpin
Gustave Moreau, Perseus and Andromeda (1870s), Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
The 19th century in France was a time of political upheaval, but within the evolving cultural landscape a group of artists emerged, pushing back against the Neoclassical and Romantic movements of the time. Symbolism sought to express more abstract, emotional themes that elicited an emotional response from the viewers, creating dream-like and mysterious paintings that drew inspiration from other mediums of art like poetry, music, and literature. Writing had a large influence on the birth of Symbolist painting, from poets including Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Rimbaud. Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal is often credited as the foundational text for the Symbolist movement, exploring themes of decadence, beauty, and searching for an escape from materialistic aspects of life. Symbolism transmits themes through allegories painted with vibrant colors, creating dreamy landscapes often filled with mythical or biblical scenes. The heart of the Symbolism movement lies in France, specifically Paris, within the old home of Gustave Moreau. Every room of the house is filled with paintings and sketches created during Moreau’s lifetime, spanning from early life in 1851 up until his death in 1898.
I visited the Gustave Moreau Museum on my 21st birthday. It was a Wednesday, pouring rain, and I was, admittedly, not having the best day. I decided to go alone, which ended up working in my favor as I had not accounted for the amount of work the museum contained. After walking through the preserved area of the home, I was shocked when I entered the two enormous rooms that displayed the larger canvases. Connected by a spiral staircase, the two rooms were covered floor-to-ceiling with tableaus. Ranging in sizes and states of progress, with religious depictions next to secular imagery, the paintings shared the same ethereal aesthetic. Each painting was extremely detailed, with the unfinished paintings revealing the complex sketches and underpaintings. Moreau’s style positions him as the poster child for French Symbolism, with dream-like mythical paintings that would later define the genre as a whole. Moreau’s oeuvre amassed over his artistic career, sitting on unique display in the home with over 1,300 art pieces, including watercolors, paintings, and cartoons. Among these are his most well known pieces, including L’Apparition (1874–1876), Jupiter et Sémélé (1894–95) and Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864). Each of these paintings depict a mythological and Biblical scene, with Oedipus and the Sphinx bearing the closest resemblance to a Neoclassical style, while the other two are a clear departure into intricate details, vibrant colors, and symbolism.
Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864), Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris
Gustave Moreau,, Jupiter et Sémélé (1894–95), Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris
The Sphinx is seen vertically climbing Oedipus’s body, seemingly suspended, while they hold intense eye contact. The psychological tension between the two characters is emphasized by the context of the Greek myth (Oedipus correctly answering the Sphinx’s riddle) and the creature's enigmatic presence.
Jupiter et Sémélé, also based in classical mythology, is one of the most complex and colorful works in Moreau’s collection. Jupiter sits, statuesque, on a throne with rays of red and gold light bursting from his head. Contrasted against the blue of the sky behind the throne, it seems as though every surface in the painting is covered in some kind of winding plant or ornately jeweled. Sémélé lies draped across Jupiter’s lap, her small size and pale skin juxtaposed with Jupiter, who appears enormous and golden.
Gustave Moreau, L’Apparition (1874-1876), Gustave Moreau Museum
Arguably his most famous work, L’Apparition is gruesome and supernatural, featuring the spectral vision of the severed head of Saint John the Baptist appearing to Salome. The head, levitating and surrounded by glowing light, spills blood onto the floor where Salome stands. With her own head tilted down she looks up at the dead saint, pointing up at him. The emphasized sensuality and movement of Salome contrasted with the stagnation of the decapitated head creates an eerie proximity between life and death, beauty and carnage.
However, while these paintings are undoubtedly beautiful, the pieces that stood out to me the most were Moreau’s unfinished works. Some half-painted, some just sketches, these works showed the intricate details of the underpainting and sketching, creating a unique and intimate perspective with the artworks. Even with his growing success in the late 19th century, Moreau was somewhat isolated in his home, where he was producing his deeply personal and intricate works. The experience of walking through his home created a different atmosphere, instead of viewing the painting, I felt I had a kind of acquaintance or participation with the works.
Gustave Moreau, Salome, 1880, Gustave Moreau Museum
Before his death, Moreau became deeply concerned with the fate of his house and its hundreds of artworks. Noted on the bottom of a sketch, Moreau wrote about his artworks, “Separated, they perish; taken together, they give a little idea of what I was like as an artist and the milieu in which I liked to dream?” In the spirit of keeping his massive collection together, he decided to create a museum for his works after many of his friends and family had passed away. Three years before his own passing in 1898, Moreau asked architect Albert Lafon to transform the modest family home into a larger viewing area, turning the second floor apartments into museum space. The home’s preserved 19th century condition makes it feel as though Moreau will return home any moment, the comfortable atmosphere producing an effect not typically found in sterile museum spaces. Moreau's distinctive concern for his paintings has left us with a deeply personal museum experience that holds the core of the Symbolist art movement in one home in Paris.
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