Fin de Siècle - Articles, Lectures and Reflections

December 31, 2004

A visit to the Gustave Moreau Museum

This summer I had the good fortune of finally visiting the mecca of Symbolist art: the Gustave Moreau Museum at 14, rue de La Rochefoucauld in Paris. The intimate interior of this lovely but unassuming building has been preserved precisely according to the artist's own instructions, so that the effect upon the visitor is one of immediately stepping back in time, into Moreau's private world. The first floor preserves the artist's apartment, with its remarkable collection of exotic artifacts, drawings, self-portraits and collected works by the likes of Rembrandt. The remaining two floors, once the artist's studio, now collect many of his great masterpieces as well as thousands of drawings and watercolors.

My pictures of actual Moreau paintings are few, as they were quite difficult to capture in all their glory (flash photography
was strictly forbidden and glare from the natural light cast on the oil canvases ruined the rest). My small collection of photos from the visit may be found here

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