Pasiphaé

1841–1857 · Lieu de travail

Paris

1846–1849 · Formation

Beaux-Arts de Paris

1848–1849

Failure at the Prix de Rome and departure from the École

Moreau had grand aspirations of winning the Grand Prix de Rome, but when he failed to make the final rounds in 1848 and 1849 he left the École des Beaux-Arts prematurely. His style soon drifted away from the academy’s, though the basics of Beaux-Arts methods and his commitment to history painting stayed with him for life.

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.