Written in French. Initially a painter, Maillol turned to tapestry and the decorative arts. Little known, this first part of his career, during which he looked at Gauguin and Puvis de Chavannes and forged close links with the Nabis, shows an artist eager to rediscover the principles of mural decoration. He only discovered sculpture around 1895, initially on wood and of small dimensions: Octave Mirbeau and Ambroise Vollard among others recognised its qualities. The Mediterranean made for Count Kessler appears to be the manifesto of the "return to order", of which Maillol is a major