Apparition (c1876). Oil on canvas. 56 x 47. The Apparition is a painting by French artist Gustave Moreau, painted between 1874 and 1876. It shows the biblical character of Salome dancing in front of Herod Antipas with a vision of John the Baptist's head. The 106 cm high and 72,2 cm wide watercolor held by the Paris Musée d'Orsay elaborates an episode told in the Gospel of Matthew 14:6-11 and Mark 6:21-29. On a feast on the occasion of Herod Antipas' birthday, the princess Salome dances in front of the king and his guest, pleasing him so much he promises her anything she wished for. Incited by her mother Herodias, who was reproved by the imprisoned John the Baptist for her illegitimate marriage to Herod, Salome demands John's head in a charger. Regretful but compelled to keep his word in front of his peers, Herod fulfills Salome's demand. John the Baptist is beheaded, the head brought in a charger and given to Salome, who gives it to her mother. Moreau approached the biblical theme in 19 paintings, 6 watercolors and more than 150 drawings. Part of a series of at least 8 closely resembling paintings and more than 40 sketch drawings, it is regarded a key work of Moreau's opus, symbolism and fin de siècle art in general. Upon its first presentation 1876 in Salon, the painting caused a sensation. It has since made a lasting impression on various artists, notably from the Decadent movement. Against the backdrop of a lavishly decorated palace inspired by the Alhambra Salome stands out in an array of bejeweled veils, her body facing the viewer, her left arm pointing up in the air to John the Baptist's hovering head, enclosed by a halo. At the back in the half-light stands the executioner with his sword, at his feet the silver charger. Seated in ascending position on Salome's side are a lutanist, Herodias and Herod Antipas. They face the foreground events seemingly lit by John's halo and its reflections on Salome's costume. The severed head recalls a Japanese print copied by Moreau at the Palais de l'Industrie in 1869 as well as the severed head of Medusa as held by Benvenuto Cellini's bronze Perseus with the head of Medusa in Florence. Since no one, including Salome, reacts directly to the vision central to the composition, it is unclear if it is real, imagined by the princess or a collective hallucination. This deliberately confusing technique has been attributed to an alleged consumption of opium and thereby caused hallucinations, though justification of such claims was never established. Its surreal setting and mystic air, evoked by obscure architectural and textile opulence, contrast with previous interpretations of the subject, making The Apparition a key work for the emerging symbolist movement. Belgian art dealer Léon Gauchez bought The Appariton in 1876 upon its first presentation at the Salon where it was exhibited with several other of Moreau's works. The following year Gauchez sent it to be exhibited at London's Grosvenor Gallery where it hung not with the aquarelles in a separate room but in the main East Gallery with the oil paintings. Currently it is located in the Musée d'Orsay. The dreadful head glows eerily, bleeding all the while, so that clots of dark red form at the ends of hair and beard. The Apparition stands apart from biblical and historic paintings of the period, incorporating elements of style which would become significant for the aesthetic and symbolist movement, while also anteceding surrealism. Whereas the bible mentions Salome as acting out Herodias' will, Moreau draws her guided by her own lust. Among his series of Salome-paintings, the climactic The Apparition is the most openly erotic with a bare-breasted princess turned towards the viewer, her naked arm directed at the object she will soon receive. By accentuating her stillness, Moreau immobilizes her to be seen alternately as idol or sexual object or both. Some critics also ascribed her statuesque posture to fear, like French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans who muses on the painting in his influential decadent novel À rebours. Moreau himself described Salome as bored and fantastic woman, animal by nature and so disgusted with the complete satisfaction of her desires gives herself the sad pleasure of seeing her enemy degraded. His sensual presentation of Salome and innovative interpretation of traditional historic and mythological themes caused his art to be regarded as eccentric and provocative. Emphasizing instincts over reason, subjectivity over objectivity and suggestion over definition, the watercolor features essential qualities of symbolism as coined by French poet and critic Jean Moréas. Further, the scene's morbidity and underlying themes of necrophilia, incest and sadism associate it with the decadent movement and Fin de siecle art.
more...