Musee National Gustave Moreau

The ground floor of the museum overlooks a garden and has 6 small rooms (A-F). These six rooms have over 400 paintings, hundreds of drawings and collections of art utilities belonging to Moreau on display. Room C, which is known to once serve as the dining hall with a fireplace, now displays the artwork copies made in Italy from various legendary artists. Rooms D-F display the most notable works of Moreau from different years of his life which include Lady Macbeth, Bathsheba, etc.

The first floor of the apartment is the place where Moreau used to stay with his parents and includes all the memories of the Moreau family along with his paintings. After the death of his parents, Moreau modified it and gave it its recent structure, putting the memories of his loved ones in place. He transformed his former bedroom and devoted it to the loving memory of his friend Alexandrine Dureux who died very early. The floor mainly comprises a hallroom, a bedroom which was formerly his mother’s, the dining room, his own room transformed into a boudoir and the reception room.

After the death of his parents, Moreau decided to sacrifice the second floor and build workshops for display to the public. The workshop was personally designed by the young architect Albert Lafon on the special request of the artist. The main purpose of the transformation was to hang large canvases for the common people to discover and admire. It has a large studio room around which his various works are being exhibited.

Just like the 2nd floor, the third floor was also a part of Moreau’s plan of rue de Rochefoucauld, the large two workshops. This floor has two large rooms among which the first room is mainly dominated by Jupiter and Semele made for Leopold Goldschmidt in 1895. He later donated it to the museum in 1903. The second room on the other hand has The Abduction of Europe and Prometheus along with the Unicorns that were perhaps painted around 1885. This floor has in store some of the most magnificent and characteristic works of Moreau and also says a lot about his concepts, ideas and culture.

“The Death of Germanicus” is a painting of Nicolas Poussin made for Fransesco Barbarini. Before the purchase of the painting by the Minneapolis Institute of Art from the Barbarini family, it used to be displayed in the Barbarini palace gallery. Moreau, during his stay in Rome during the mid of 1859, made a full-size copy of the painting

This is an unfinished painting of Moreau and one of the most notable ones. The painting was inspired by the poems and songs of Tyrtaeus whose translations Moreau had in his library. It is a cartoon painting and was a part of a preparatory study from one of the background details of one of the paintings displayed in the second floor.

Edgar Degas always considered Gustav Moreau to be his mentor. He painted his most notable works, “Portrait the Bellelli” Family during the time he encountered Moreau. Degas during 1861-1862 drew a portrait of Gustav Moreau where he sits on a chair, firm and determinant, with his hat lying on the ground.

This is a mythological painting by Moreau which he started working on from 1853 and completed around 1858. The painting shows Hercules and the Theban Princess Alcmane putting the lion of Cithaeron to death for the benefit of both sides. King Thespius, as a gesture of gratitude united his 50 daughters to Hercules who sits in the center with all the 50 girls around him in distinctive positions.

Moreau perhaps started to work on it in the year of 1873. This portrays the triumph of Alexander the Great over the North Indian Porus armies. In the painting, we see the mighty Alexander the Great sitting on a throne. It overlooks the Statue of Victory which evidently signifies the power of his reign.