Étude de sphinge pour le Sphinx vainqueur

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.

1881

The Fables watercolours at the Cercle des Aquarellistes

In 1881 all the commissioned works were exhibited together at the Cercle des Aquarellistes in Paris. The critics celebrated the show: Moreau’s work (he completed 25 pieces, more than anyone else) was judged far superior to most of the others, and he alone was commissioned to continue the series.

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.

28 March 1890

The death of Alexandrine Dureux

Alexandrine Dureux died on 28 March 1890 after five months of deteriorating health, and Moreau was at her bedside. He bought back from her heirs the watercolours he had given her and some furniture, placing them in a room of his house in her memory, and designed her tombstone himself, engraved with their interlaced initials. Both deaths reinforced his isolation, and his work took on an even greater melancholic edge.

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 aprile 1898

Died