Borëd | Artist Spotlight | Gustave Moreau

Gustave Moreau was an Aries born on April 6th, 1826 in Paris, France. Moreau was born into a well-to-do family: his father was an architect, and his mother was a talented musician. As a child, Gustave was often ill and, long at home, he began to draw incessantly at eight years old. After a trip to Italy, he became interested in the art of Byzantine antiquity and the early Italian Renaissance. Later, at around the age of 18, he studied with François-Édouard Pico, the Neoclassical painter, and prepared for the entrance exam to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Over the next couple of years, Moreau studied paintings at the Musée du Louvre, and across the early 1850s he completed a few government commissions.

In 1851, Moreau befriended the painter Théodore Chassériau. Moreau was deeply influenced by Chassériau's work - particularly his interest in combining elements of neo-classical and romantic aesthetics. This was a key period for Moreau's artistic development, and in 1852 his work was exhibited in the official Salon for the first time. In the same year, his parents bought him a house in Paris, at 14 Rue de La Rochefoucauld (now the Musée National Gustave Moreau). He established a studio on the third floor, which remained his base for most of the rest of his life. In 1856, Moreau's close friend and mentor Théodore Chassériau died at the young age of 37.

In 1864, Moreau showed Oedipus and the Sphinx at the Salon. The work brought Moreau to popular and critical attention, and confirmed his position as a serious member of the art establishment. But five years later, when critics impartially responded about his new works, the artist retreated to his studio for several years. And although he triumphantly returned in 1876 with the painting "Phenomenon” Moreau was later described as a mysterious hermit. In addition to teaching, the artist devoted the last 10 years of his life to the transformation of his Parisian house into a museum.

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