1833 -1898 · Late pre-Raphaelitism, legend and decorative arts

Elongated figures, precious colors, silent myths and collaboration with William Morris make Burne-Jones the great creator of Victorian dreams.

Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born in Birmingham in 1833. At Oxford, where he studied theology, his meeting with William Morris became decisive: the two friends abandoned the idea of an ecclesiastical career to devote themselves to art. Burne-Jones trained outside academies, guided by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ruskin, the study of Dürer, medieval and Italian Renaissance manuscripts. He joined the second Pre-Raphaelite generation and developed a world of elongated figures, suspended gestures and timeless landscapes. Greek myths, Arthurian legends, Bible and poetry nourish cycles like Perseus and Sleeping Beauty. With Morris & Co., he designed hundreds from stained glass boxes, tapestries, mosaics and decorations, erasing the border between painting and applied arts. The Song of Love, King Cophetua and the Beggar, The Golden Staircase or Merlin's Enchantment combine linear drawing, Venetian color and melancholy. Ennobled in 1894, Burne-Jones died in London in 1898 after having exerted a major influence on European symbolism. Ennobled in 1894, Burne-Jones died in London in 1898 after having exerted a major influence on European symbolism. The "Edward Burne-Jones" selection notably compares The Song of Love and King Cophetua and the Beggar. His reading favors the material.

Burne-Jones paints the moment when the story stops: the gesture remains suspended and the myth becomes a dream whose outcome we do not know.