CONFERENCE: THE TWO WORLDS OF GUSTAVE MOREAU – MAY 21 AT 6:00 PM
On the occasion of the bicentenary of Gustave Moreau’s birth, Villa Medici and Galleria Borghese pay tribute to the famous history painter with two sessions, one in Rome and the other in Paris.
The Rome session will focus on Moreau’s deep ties to the “land of the masters,” an essential source of his artistic and intellectual training. The other session will examine the artist’s involvement in Parisian artistic circles and his role in the birth and establishment of Symbolism.
Presenting himself as the innovator of French history painting at the time of his first success at the 1864 Salon, Gustave Moreau based his entire artistic project on the fruitful and patient research conducted during his study trip to Italy, from October 1857 to September 1859. During this journey, visits to Rome were particularly important for Moreau, who had twice failed the competitive exam for the École des Beaux-Arts. Introduced to Victor Schnetz, director of Villa Medici, who welcomed him in early November 1857 and introduced him to the other residents, Moreau befriended Jules-Élie Delaunay, Henri Chapu, and Georges Bizet, and also attended the “Académie du soir” where he met the young Edgar Degas. Upon his return, Moreau decorated his private apartments with his Italian copies to continue basking in the aura of the masters and to remind visitors of the origins of his art.
The Rome session will not only offer the opportunity to revisit this exceptionally documented period, but will also open up new avenues of research, particularly on the Italian artistic context at the time of Moreau’s stay, and will address historiographical issues such as the exhibition “Gustave Moreau and Italy” organized by Geneviève Lacambre at Villa Medici in 1996. Thirty years later, this day will invite researchers to continue the international dialogue.
For the occasion, five engravings by Gustave Moreau from the Primoli Foundation will be on display in the Grand Salon of Villa Medici.
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