NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA PRESENTS GUSTAV MOREAU AND THE ETERNAL FEMININE

BE SEDUCED BY FEMMES FATALES, GODDESSES AND TEMPTRESSES OF HISTORY AND LEGEND AT THE NGV THIS SUMMER IN GUSTAV MOREAU AND THE ETERNAL FEMININE, THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT EXHIBITION OF GUSTAV MOREAU TO BE SEEN UN AUSTRALIA. FROM 10.DECEMBER, THE SUPERB CRAFTSMANSHIP OF GUSTAVE MOREAU WILL BE CELEBRATED WITH OVER 100 PAINTINGS, WATERCOLOURS AND DRAWINGS FROM THE UNIQUE AND ACCLAIMED MUSEE GUSTAVE MOREAU IN PARIS. GUSTAVE MOREAU AND THE ETERNAL FEMININE WILL EXPLORE THE ARTIST'S OBSESSION WITH THE FEMALE FORM, TAKING VISITORS ON A VOYAGE FROM CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY AND THE ANCIENT FAR EAST, TO CHRISTIANITY'S MORE LURID ESCAPADES AND EPIC NARRATIVES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. A HIGHLIGHT OF THE EXHIBITION WILL BE A SECTION DEVOTED TO MOREAU'S MOST CELEBRATED AND INTRIGUING OBSESSION, THE STORY OF SALOME AND THE BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. SALOME IS OFTEN DEPICTED AS AN ICON OF DANGEROUS FEMALE SEDUCTIVENESS AND IN THE FAMOUS TALE, HER STEPFATHER HEROD REQUESTS SALOME TO DANCE FOR HIM ON HIS BIRTHDAY IN EXCHANGE FOR ANYTHING SHE DESIRES. SALOME DANCES AND THEN ORDERS THE BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST WHO WAS IN PRISON AT THE TIME FOR CRITICIZING THE MARRIAGE OF HER MOTHER, HERODIAS AND STEPFATHER HEROD. DURING HIS YOUTH, MOREAU WAS OBSESSES WIT ITALIAN ART OF THE 14th AND 15th CENTURIES, AND WITH NARRATIVES DRAWN FROM THE CLASSICAL PAST. THIS EXHIBITION WILL FEATURE THE TALES AND TRIBULATIONS OF WELL KNOWN CHARACTERS OF HISTORY, BOTH REAL AND MYTHOLOGICAL, INCLUDING HELEN OF TROY, CLEOPATRA, MESSALINA, LADY MACBETH, SAMSON AND DELILAH AND SAPPHO AND SALOME. WHILST MANY OF MOREAU'S WORKS ARE FILLED WITH MYTHICAL FEMALE CHARACTERS, IN LIFE HE WAS SURROUNDED BY TWO KEY FEMALE FIGURES: HIS MOTHER AND HIS GIRLFRIEND, ALEXANDRINE DUREUX. MOREAU LIVED WITH HIS MOTHER UNTIL HER PASSING IN 1884, WHILE DUREUX LIVED NEARBY. AFTER DUREUX'S DEATH IN 1890, MOREAU TRANSFORMED HIS FAMILY HOME INTO A MUSEUM. CREATING MASSIVE ATELIERS FOR THE DISPLAY OF MORE THAN 5,000 OF HIS OWN WORKS OF ART, AS WELL AS DEPICTING ROOMS TO HIS FATHER, HIS MOTHER AND DUREUX. LEFT TO THE FRENCH NATION IN MOREAU'S WILL IN 1898 AND OFFICIALLY OPENED TO THE PUBLIC IN 1903, THE MUSEE GUSTAVE MOREAU REMAINS ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST UNIQUE AND EXTRAORDINARY SINGLE-ARTIST MUSEUMS.