These lectures will seek to explore some less familiar aspects of the age of Impressionism and in particular to illuminate the relationship between art and music in the late 19th century. At this time, and under the looming shadow of Wagner, there was an intense and fruitful relationship between art and music. The lectures will combine gorgeous images with some musical examples and will aim to delight the senses.
In the gloomy and sinister Musée Gustave Moreau in the artist’s former town house, lurk over 90 depictions of Salome. Salome had been quite rarely depicted in Western art before Gustave Moreau. It was Moreau who established the Biblical anti-heroine as the ultimate femme fatale. The glittering jewel-like surfaces of Moreau’s paintings inspired the language of Oscar Wilde’s play and ultimately of Richard Strauss’s operatic score.
In the series:
Degas at the Opera – Apr. 5
Wagner and France: La Peinture Wagnerienne – Apr. 12
Salome: Gustave Moreau, Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss – Apr. 19