Gustave Moreau: Magic and Symbols

Gustave Moreau was one of the most influential painters of the 19th century, yet he is little known today. Teacher of Henri Matisse and Georges Rouault, he created a world of glittering, bejeweled illusion and mystery in his art. His complex, decorative style united a passion for mythology and mysticism with exquisite craftsmanship, and inspired a generation of Symbolist painters, poets, and writers, among them Proust, Mallarme, and the English Pre-Raphaelites. In his elusive, shadowed universe, compounded of dreams, memories, fragments of poetry, and ancient myths, Salome dances, Oedipus confronts the Sphinx, and Orpheus, master of music, sets his lyre singing. Trained in Renaissance art traditions, Moreau helped to open the way for modern art, and was especially fascinating to the later Surrealists, themselves drunk on dreams. Genevieve Lacambre takes us into the heart of this man’s unique creativity, exploring his life and artistic sources. More than 120 paintings, drawings, and watercolors and a wealth of documents, letters, and photographs illustrate the life and work of this singular artist.