Art e Dossier

Moreau turned to various artistic references during the early part of his career: the painter Thédore Chasseriau who died prematurely in 1856 from whom he took the clear lines of the figures, and Géricault and Delacroix to whom he owed his sense of motion and color. This painting reveals the young Moreau’s keen observations of these latter two artists, in the galloping horse – close to Géricault, and the fast, brushstrokes and colors that refer to Delacroix.

Shown at the 1853 Salon this painting had been commissioned for the Dijon museum by the Ministry of the Interior the previous year. The scene is based on the Biblical episode of the Sulamite who, not seeing her beloved return, leaves the city at night to find him, but is attacked and raped by the guards. Moreau had done several preparatory studies for this painting: a watercolor and sketches of the city walls. The composition gradually became more simplified, until this final version in which everything focuses on the violent action of the characters, while the background is played out in a dark color, an unreal and dazzling light that augments the dramatic sense of the scene.

The fate of this painting runs parallel to that of the large canvas of The Suitors. Started around 1853, prior to the trip to Italy that was to create new artistic suggestions, these two paintings were done over a very long period – abandoned and resumed several times. This painting was completed in the ‘eighties, while The Suitors remained unfinished. With these two, highly elaborate compositions, Moreau created his first neo-Greek scenes in which the figures seem locked into an overabundant structure, rich with literary and exotic references. If, on the one hand the reference can be sought in Couture who had painted The Romans of the Decadence, on the other, there is a dramatic sense of color and a stratification of formal elements that recall Delacroix.

Preceded by an 1860 watercolor, this canvas of Oedipus and the Sphinx was shown at the 1864 Salon. It brought the artist success, a medal, the attention of the general public as well as the critics and the painting was purchased by the prince Napoleon. The myth of Oedipus is a recurrent theme in Moreau’s works as he was fascinated by his humanity in the face of the riddle, the choice between life and death. In this painting, the most famous of all on this theme, the hero observes the Sphinx powerfully and she seems disconcerted, fearful and close to defeat. There are macabre details in the lower part of the picture revealing the tyranny the city of Thebes suffered before the arrival of Oedipus.

The Orpheus brought Moreau yet another triumph: that of being accepted in the Musée du Luxembourg , the contemporary art museum. It was the aspiration of all artists since it represented official and definitive recognition. The government purchased the painting at the 1866 Salon where it had “impressed the public with its atmosphere that was both sweet and unsettling at the same time. The artist had elected to portray the moment in which Orpheus’ head is found on a lyre by a Thracian girl. She observe the singer’s head with love – the head that will become the symbol of the regeneration of poetry - an image that would be evoked and beloved by an entire generation of artists literati including Proust.

During his own lifetime Moreau was defined as the “painter of Salomes” because of the insistence with which he turned to that biblical subject. The magical dance that Salome performed to enchant Herod, when she asked him for the head of John the Baptist is set in a solemn eastern building rich in decorative details. The sparkle of the clothing, the airy, exotic atmosphere the abundance of ritual elements and the imperious gestures give the picture enormous power that incarnates the decadent climate of the late nineteenth century symbolist-intellectual circles that found their literary counterparts in Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans.

During his own lifetime Moreau was defined as the “painter of Salomes” because of the insistence with which he turned to that biblical subject. The magical dance that Salome performed to enchant Herod, when she asked him for the head of John the Baptist is set in a solemn eastern building rich in decorative details. The sparkle of the clothing, the airy, exotic atmosphere the abundance of ritual elements and the imperious gestures give the picture enormous power that incarnates the decadent climate of the late nineteenth century symbolist-intellectual circles that found their literary counterparts in Oscar Wilde and Joris-Karl Huysmans.

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) and the subsequent defeat of France due to the policies of the Emperor Napoleon III created a general feeling of frustration that Moreau translated into a profound sense of decadence and the end of the world. The various versions of Salomé and other biblical themes, such as Jacob and the Angel, David and this Moses are the upshot of these feelings. As the artist himself states in Personal Reflections, this painting of the young Moses, that was shown at the 1878 Universal Exposition, represented the hope of a new, and just law, sustained by God. Moreau remained very attached to this painting with its imaginary architectures that conceal the images of the sphinxes. He held on to the painting until 1893 when he began working on new versions of the theme.

During this period Moreau worked increasingly with watercolors and reached a level of virtuosity that led him to progressive autonomy of color with respect to drawing. In this painting, we can see a certain freedom in his use of broad areas of color that are independent of the fine linearity of the decorative details and the contours of the figures that recall Gothic iconography. The enchanted atmosphere is suggested by the contours that are not retouched and give the entire work a visionary aura.

The death of Alexandrine Dureux, Moreau’s dearest friend, in March 1890 generated a series of considerations on the theme of death and separation, including this painting dedicated to Alexandrine. The formal liberty of his work was complete. The intense color is spread in a convulsive manner that matches the feelings of the artist-Orpheus following her death – focused on his grief. Moreau collected Alexandrine’s furniture, pictures and belongings and kept them in his home.

In this version Salomé is rendered by a fine drawing and touches of color that denote the airy, precious garments that are as light as her dance on the tips of her toes. The lively colors of the exotic setting, the mosaics, columns and capitals and the double-lighted window in the background prevail over the white figure that seems like a marvelous, glowing apparition sprung from a dream.

Based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, this is one of Moreau’s most complex works. It portrays the story of Jupiter and the human Sémélé, mother of Dionysus – whom she conceived from the god. She asked the Jupiter to reveal himself in all his glory not knowing that it would cause her death – his divine lightning reduced her to ashes. The figures are arranged in an hierarchical pyramid: Jupiter enthroned encircles by the flashes of glory, Sémélé in adoration at the feet of her beloved, mortally wounded as we can see from the blood on her side, and the images of Death and Grief in the lower register, and personifications of grieving, nocturnal figures in a sparkling and visionary ensemble.