{"id":217,"date":"2019-11-13T03:09:51","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T03:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/dallasmckinnon\/?p=217"},"modified":"2019-11-13T03:14:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T03:14:03","slug":"impressionism-post-impressionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eportfolios.capilanou.ca\/dallasmckinnon\/2019\/11\/13\/impressionism-post-impressionism\/","title":{"rendered":"Impressionism & Post Impressionism – Gustave Moreau"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No Fuss Gus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Born to a middle class family in Paris, Gustave Moreau was a visionary symbolist painter who found his love for the arts on a trip to Italy when he was 15. He is most notably known for his depictions of mythological figures and religious subjects that he would portray in an erotic way. Moreau\u2019s mentor, Th\u00e9odore Chass\u00e9riau, would be the only influence on his development as a painter. Moreau\u2019s art style would run contrast to the french conventions of the time, Realism and Naturalism as Moreau\u2019s emphasis was on that of the imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oedipus and the Sphinx<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Oedipus and the Sphinx is Moreau\u2019s interpretation of the scene from the story of Oedipus. The painting displays one of Moreau\u2019s great inspirations, that of the old style of the Renaissance. This painting marked the turning point of Moreau\u2019s rejection of Realism and Naturalism.
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Head of Orpheus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A year later Moreau would still draw inspiration from Greek mythology. This time with the legendary musician, Orpheus, in Metamorphoses. This painting would become important in forming key aspects of symbolist aesthetic. Namely, the depiction of a decapitated head and the femme fatale. 
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The Apparition<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Apparition epitomizes the symbolist obsession with the story of John the Baptist. Moreau depicts the scene when Princess Salome dances provocatively for her father, King Herod, to win John\u2019s head for her mother. We see again the imagery of the disembodied head and the main female subject.
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La Chim\u00e8re<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

La chim\u00e8re is a painting of a series of paintings depicting nude women with various classical mythological creatures. Moreau believed the internal, primitive nature of women to be captured by and capturers of their dreams, or imaginations. 
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The Sacred Elephant<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Sacred Elephant demonstrates Moreau\u2019s second great inspiration, Exoticism. Although it is unclear what mythology Moreau was trying to refer to in this painting, the influence of asian art is unambiguous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elements of South Asian, South East Asian, and East Asian art is explicit in Moreau\u2019s work. I can appreciate that he used these elements and mixed them with his imagination and western mythologies to inform his personal painting style.
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Honorable Mention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Odilon Redon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The Smiling Spider<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Henri Rousseau<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Surprised!<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n