The Muses

Maurice Denis painted this Symbolist work in 1893, the same year he married Marthe Meurier. He updated classical mythology by dressing the muses in contemporary clothing and stripping them of traditional identifying attributes. The setting is the terrace at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where Denis lived his entire life.

Century-old chestnut trees create a rhythm of vertical trunks against the curves of branches and dress folds. The flattened space, painted in areas of flat color with neat outlines, evokes a "sacred wood" where figures communicate mysteriously with nature. An mysterious tenth muse appears in the background, raising one arm to the light. Denis co-founded the Nabis group with Bonnard and Vuillard, inspired by Gauguin and Japanese prints. The painting hangs at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.