Descente de Croix

1846–1849 · Education

Beaux-Arts de Paris

1852

Salon debut: the state buys his “Pietà”

In 1852 Moreau took part in the Paris Salon for the first time, presenting a Pietà that the state bought for 600 francs. From the 1850s he exhibited with some regularity and, with his father’s help, secured commissions from the city.

1864

A Salon medal for “Oedipus and the Sphinx”

“Oedipus and the Sphinx”, one of Moreau’s first Symbolist paintings, won a medal at the Paris Salon of 1864 and established his reputation. One commentator likened it to a pastiche of Mantegna created by a German student who relaxes from his painting by reading Schopenhauer.

1876

Return to the Salon: “Salome”

After the break Moreau returned to the Salon. That year he completed “Salome Dancing before Herod”, which announced the more painterly style that would characterize his later works.

1895

Turns his townhouse into a museum

After finishing “Jupiter and Semele” Moreau began his last great project, a museum in his own townhouse, to make his art accessible to all and to ensure it would be preserved for future generations. He sold few works in his lifetime: only three were bought by French museums and none by foreign ones.

18 April 1898

Died