Fée aux griffons

1859–1888 · Lieu de travail

Paris

1870–1875

Years without exhibiting: renewing his art

Disturbed by criticism that his work had become formulaic, Moreau stopped exhibiting for a few years and concentrated on renewing his art.

18 septembre 1875 · Distinction

Knight of the Legion of Honour

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.

1878

“Phaeton” at the World’s Fair stuns Redon

At the 1878 World’s Fair Moreau’s watercolour “Phaeton” so struck Odilon Redon that he wrote of its power to renew old art. Redon, like many critics of the time, saw Moreau’s chief merit in giving traditional painting a new direction, building a bridge between past and future.