Dead Poet Carried by a Centaur is a c. 1890 watercolour by Gustave Moreau, produced shortly after the death of his companion Alexandrine Dureux and representing a reflection on the duality of man and the fate reserved for artists. It is now in the Musée national Gustave Moreau, in Paris.
History This watercolor is generally dated to around 1890.Geneviève Lacambre, Douglas W. Druick, Larry J. Feinberg and Susan Stein, Gustave Moreau 1826-1898, Tours, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1998 (French) It was produced shortly after the death of Alexandrine Dureux. André Breton, who was an admirer of Gustave Moreau, owned a copy of this work with the title Centaur and Nymph.
Interpretation Moreau represents here one of his favorite subjects, the poet. But this poet is anonymous, he is no longer the Orpheus of his painting of 1865 or even Sappho. It is in fact a reflection on the duality of human nature, with the poet symbolizing the spiritual part and the centaur the material part.Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: Maître Sorcier, Paris, Gallimard et Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997, pp. 68-69 (French) It is also a pessimistic reflection on the fate reserved for artists; thus, as Ary Renan:Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: Maître Sorcier, Paris, Gallimard et Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997, pp. 68-69 (French)
Nature is empathetic here since the sun sets at the same time as the poet dies.Geneviève Lacambre, Gustave Moreau: Maître Sorcier, Paris, Gallimard et Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997, pp. 68-69 (French)
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