Gustave Moreau
French, 1826 - 1898
IMAGE GALLERY
33 pictures
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BIOGRAPHY
Without doubt one of the greatest Symbolist artists. Entered the studio of Francois Picot at the Paris Beaux-Arts in 1846. A friend of Théodore Chassériau, whom he frequented from 1850 until the latter's death in 1856. From 1857 to 1859 he travelled in Italy. Won considerable reputation at the 1864 Salon with his
Oedipus and the Sphinx. His unfavourable critical reception in 1869 meant that he returned to the Salon only in 1876 with his
Salome Dancing Before Herod, which was admired by many critics, notably Huysmans. In 1884 succeeded Elie Delauney as a teacher at the Beaux-Arts. Matisse, Marquet, Camoin and Roualt were among his students and their works show his influence.
The heir of Romanticism and an admirer of the Italian masters of the Quattrocento, Gustave Moreau is the embodiment of Symbolism. He defined his art as a "passionate silence" and transcribed in it obsessions and oneiric themes which made him one of the great masters of sexual Symbolism. He seized upon the personage of Salome and made her one of the main themes of his work, if not indeed the most important. In his many variations on this theme, he portrayed Woman as both a seductress and an innocent.
A selection of art exhibitions which have featured this
artist's work: