Art Criticism - The State University of New York

ace that recalls "a basilica of an architecture at once Saracenic and Byzantine,"
provide an eclectic mix of symbols and elements that transport the viewer to
the furthest reaches of the imagination.21
The lapidary excess so overtly apparent in Salome bears witness to
another of Moreau 's guiding aesthetic principles, that of la richesse necessaire
(necessary richness). This characteristic becomes increasingly dominant in
later works such as Bathsheba (c.1886 and 1890) and reaches its zenith in
Jupiter and Semele (1889-95). While Moreau chose a solitary existence in
rejection of the materialism of his peers, his work could on some level be
interpreted as homage to that materialism which he so deplored, given the
attendant detail to sumptuous fabrics, lavish interiors and exquisite gems. This
fascination with the manmade, the artificial and the luxurious found great appeal
among the decadents, who so worshipped Moreau. Indeed Baudelaire,
the arch hero of the decadents, is responsible for the famous phrase Luxe,
Calme et Volupte, which could aptly summarize the most prevalent atmosphere
of Moreau's work.
In Orestes and the Erinyes (1875) the eclectic mix of influences once
more comes to the fore. "Moreau does not attempt an archaeological reconstruction
of the temple of Apollo at Delphi, but designs it to be expressive of
the emotional complexities of the narrative. The architecture is rich and complicated,
incorporating Greco-Roman, Assyrian, Hindu, and Egyptian elements."22
Moreau does not however, mix and match artistic, mythological or exotic elements
purely for luxuriant effect. According to Genevieve Lacambre, "He desired
to create an art that rejected simple historical reconstruction in favor of a
realm of evocation, imagination, and dreams."23 Together with the principle of
necessary richness, this aesthetic propagates an aura of mystery, and instills
in Moreau's images a dreamlike quality. Some of the terms used to describe his
paintings exhibited in the Salons of 1879 and 1880 were "dreams, hallucination,
vision, bizarre, mysterious, strange."24 This indicates, that while Moreau's
subject matter was traditional, the public was presented with a treatment of
such themes never previously witnessoo.
The artificiality so venerated by the decadents, found an echo in the
remote unrecognizable landscapes or the eclectically sumptuous interiors of
Moreau's paintings. And the characters he painted in these settings were
equally unnatural; the tall, slender and beautiful androgynous male, and the
female poised as either the insidiously evil temptress or the paragon of cold
aloofness, were all ideals, created in Moreau's fertile imagination. These personalities
mirrored the decadent's hostility towards Nature. From a broader
more contemporary stance, Darwin's theories, so prevalent in popular discussion
of the latter half of the nineteenth century, implied that nature had the
upper hand in deciding man's fate. Nature, in the eyes of decadents, was
personified in the woman. The desire to usurp the dreaded female by portrayvol.
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