French painter, Gustave Moreau can be considered as the symbolist painter par excellence.
He entered the School of Fine Arts in 1846 in François Picot's studio. He admires Delacroix, whose style marked his first paintings such as the Pietà, exhibited at the 1852 salon. Like Delacroix, he has a love of...
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French painter, Gustave Moreau can be considered as the symbolist painter par excellence.
He entered the School of Fine Arts in 1846 in François Picot's studio. He admires Delacroix, whose style marked his first paintings such as the Pietà, exhibited at the 1852 salon. Like Delacroix, he has a love of the female body, a taste for rich ornaments and accessories.
Living alone, he remained far from the general public, addressing a refined elite, able to appreciate his mythological or medieval symbolism with the heroines of the Salome and Galatea with provocative poses or equivocal young girls caressing unicorns. These legendary characters were sung by Parnassian poets and symbolists. He is the darling of the salons where Oscar Wilde sings his praises. Somewhat misanthropic, he refuses to expose his paintings and even to let them reproduce, selling them only reluctantly: "I love my art so much, that I will only be happy when I do it for myself alone". Professor and workshop leader at the School of Fine Arts, his teaching was exemplary.
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