His time in Munich concluded with his first great painting, inspired by Wilde’s play, which was in turn inspired by Moreau’s paintings of Salome.
symbolism
Two paintings showing Salome. In one, she dances for Herod, and asks for the head of John the Baptist. In the other, she tries to stare out the severed head.
When he was in Munich, he did much more than just drink lots of red wine and champagne. Here are his experimental paintings from the period.
After some false starts, he finally re-established his reputation at the Salon, but was that work a political allegory?
He still couldn’t repeat his earlier success in the years running up to the Franco-Prussian War. But some paintings have been under-appreciated.
Two paintings of the buried dismemberment of a victim: one theatrical narrative, the other a serene reverie of anti-theatrical non-narrative. And an oriental witch.
He took the Salon of 1864 by storm, but was barely noticed with 2 more paintings the following year. Why?
Three major paintings, each very ambitious, but abandoned, reworked, and abandoned again, give insight into his progress in changing history painting.
Moreau’s extraordinary paintings have been described as Symbolist, Decadent, even Surrealist. They are notoriously difficult to read – here is some help.
Classified a Symbolist, his style was uniquely visionary. Here are some of the masterpieces of Symbolism, which still inspire today.
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