A musical prodigy, he was synaesthetic, and studied painting after he had trained in music. A true Symbolist.
symbolism
He developed a fascination for the form of the agave plant, and painted a series of figurative works showing ladies in a fictional country estate.
Moreau defined painting as “this language of symbol, myth and sign”, and this is his greatest expression of that.
His two paintings of Salome shown at the 1876 Salon are dominated if not overwhelmed by their symbols. They are the watershed in his art.
Moreau is often claimed as a ‘father of Symbolism’, or even a Symbolist. A detailed look at his first great success at the Salon: is it regular narrative or symbolist?
As well as designing stage sets and costumes for opera, he painted bogatyrs from East Slavic legends, and Azrael, the Angel of Death.
Known now as one of the great Russian Symbolists, in life he was independent, and painted in very modern style from legends and literary sources.
Mainly concentrating on the occult and erotic, his works can be hard to read, but never disappoint in originality or execution.
A close friend of Charles Baudelaire during his final years, Rops was an early adopter of mixed media and always original.
After 1900, most of his paintings were portraits of young women. Some seem to have been made in search of a suitable husband.
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