Dominus Venustas

Moreau, The Unicorns, 1885

Moreau, Shepherds viewing Passing Soldiers, c.1860’s

Moreau, Self-Portrait, 1850

Matisse, Gustave Moreau’s Studio, c.1894-95

There are two things I love about Gustave Moreau.

1. He is one of the most wonderful Symbolist painters that has ever lived. His vision was French, romantic and other worldly. He thrived in a time of rebellion against the Academic strand of French painting.

2. He saved Matisse in his first years of struggle in Paris who was constantly failing the Beaux-Arts examination. But Moreau took him on in his studio. He was a great teacher to Matisse, imparting great words of wisdom, such as… the strength of a painting came from within, and could not be applied from without. Moreau also said ‘Be sure to note one thing: which is that colour has to be thought, passed through the imagination… The painting that will last is the one that has been thought out, dreamed over, reflected on, produced from the mind, and not solely by the hand’s facility at dabbing on highlights with the tip of the brush’.

…oh and 3. He was an Aries (like me) *grin*