Étude d'animal fantastique

1859–1888 · Virkested

Paris

1881–1898

An increasingly reclusive life

In his later years Moreau withdrew increasingly from society: he did not exhibit at the Salon, refused to exhibit abroad, rarely let visitors into his studio and turned down prestigious offers, including the Les XX exhibition in Brussels (1887) and decorations for the Sorbonne (1891). He was exceptionally erudite, with a personal library of over 1,600 volumes, and lived fairly modestly; Degas described him as a hermit who knows what time the trains leave.

1884

The death of his mother

In 1884 Moreau’s mother died at the age of 82. They had been very close: she lost her hearing in her later years, and Gustave communicated with her by writing notes, often giving his thoughts on the paintings he was working on. Her death threw him into deep despair; for a while he could not spend nights alone in the family house and took refuge in Alexandrine Dureux’s apartment, and the room where his mother died was left unchanged, a shrine he never entered.

1884

Huysmans praises Moreau in “Against Nature”

In his famous novel “Against Nature” (À rebours, 1884) the writer Joris-Karl Huysmans called Moreau a unique artist with neither real predecessors nor possible successors.

c. 1884

Begins an inventory of his paintings

Moreau’s concern for the fate of his works dated from the 1860s; around 1884 he began an inventory of his paintings.

1886

His only private show, at the Goupil Gallery

In 1886 the only private show of Moreau’s life was held at the Goupil & Cie Gallery in Paris, where Théo van Gogh was manager: 64 La Fontaine fables with six other large watercolours. It was later shown in London.