Gustave Moreau's Orpheus (1865): Aesthetic, Iconography and Critical Reception

Peter David Cooke

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Orpheus, first exhibited at the Salon of 1866 and purchased by the state for the Musée du Luxembourg, is one of Gustave Moreau’s most successful and influential pictures. Although the myth of Orpheus was quite a fashionable subject during the Second Empire, Moreau’s conception of it was highly original. Eschewing action in favour of ‘contemplative immobility’, he invented the subject of a Thracian girl holding Orpheus’s head on his lyre. This quasi-religious iconography allowed Moreau to sacralise the subject and invest the picture with profound, yet ambiguous, symbolism. At the same time, he created an ambiguous style, blending archaism with modern facture. Orpheus’s sense of mysterious interiority was to have a profound impact on Symbolism, as was the morbid iconography of the severed head. Contemporaneous critical opinion was divided, however. While some critics appreciated the ‘poetry’ of Moreau’s iconography and his exceptional skill as a colourist, others expressed disapproval of his stylistic archaism, together with his use of allegorical and ornamental details.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)66-78
Number of pages12
JournalLa Revue des Musees de France
Volume2015
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2015

Keywords

  • Symbolism
  • history painting

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