1824 -1898 · Lyon, Paris and large public settings

Matte colors, immobile figures and vast allegories make Puvis de Chavannes the great renovator of mural painting in the 19th century.

Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes was born in Lyon in 1824 and died in Paris in 1898. After studies and travels in Italy, he built an independent path between academicism, muralism and symbolism. He became the most sought-after public decorator of his century, working for the Musée de Picardie in Amiens, the Pantheon, the Hôtel de Ville de Paris, the Sorbonne, the Musée de Lyon and the Boston library. Puvis most often painted in oil on canvas, but imitated the matte, pale and chalky appearance of the fresco. Puvis paints most often in oil on canvas, but imitates the matte, pale and chalky appearance of the fresco. Puvis paints most often in oil on canvas, but imitates the matte, pale and chalky appearance of the fresco. Puvis paints most often in oil on canvas, but imitates the matte, pale and chalky appearance of the fresco. The volumes are poorly modeled, the landscapes simplified and the figures arranged like a frieze. This restraint creates a dream distance rather than a detailed story. Ave Picardia Nutrix celebrates nourishing Picardy through human activities transformed into calm allegory. Cider combines agricultural gestures and regional fertility. Homer: Epic poetry adapts a decor of the Boston library on a small scale and gives ancient culture the form of a meditative presence. In the Self-Portrait, the austere gaze reminds us that this public art is born from a singular will. Puvis receives the support of official institutions while fascinating the avant-garde. Seurat, Gauguin, the Nabis and later Picasso admire its muted colors, its flat surfaces and its power to suggest an idea by an immobile group. His work makes the wall a mental space, granted to architecture but open to symbol. The "Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes" selection notably compares Ave Picardia Nutrix and Cidre. His reading favors color.

Puvis slows down the painting to the symbol: the color becomes wall, the figure becomes rhythm and the story rises into collective thought.