Jupiter and Semele by Moreau

Jupiter and Semele by Moreau

19th century French painter Gustave Moreau was an artist highly regarded for his intricate use of images based on myth and legends to create very symbolic and often haunting paintings. Moreau was quoted saying: “I love my art so much that I shall only be happy when I can practice it for myself alone.” In a time when many artists choose to paint classical mythological subjects as if it were a proper education in Greek and Latin, Moreau was developing his own unusual and personal interpretations using a classical subject matter as his tool for artistic expression. This is very much the case in his painting of Jupiter and Semele (1894-5) in which Moreau explores classical myth in a very personal and unorthodox way to express his interest in mythology and religion as a true Visionary artist. Moreau employs a variety of methods to create his works, one way Moreau makes the work more personal is by taking the molds of mythological stories and turn them into a mystical world with poetic melancholy with his own personal style using color and size to create emotion. In these detailed pieces Moreau combines lush vegetation with jewel-like colors make the fantasy world seem so real. Finally, as a French Symbolist painter, Moreau used various iconography meant to be mysterious and ambiguous in their meanings, often using icons from Symbolist writings and ancient myths.

In Jupiter and Semele Moreau develops his own interpretations and vision of the mythological tale about Zeus and Semele. Semele is a mortal, and one of Zeus’s many lovers. She was a Thebian princess, and the only mortal to be a parent of a god. She is bent known as the mother of Dionysus, god of wine. Hera was Zeus’s wife and sister, when she learned of who was responsible for this birth she killed Semele. Because of his mother dying while he was in the womb. Dionysus was ripped from the womb of his deceased mother, and then implanted in Zeus/Jupiter’s thigh from which he was later reborn. The story ends with Dionysus making his way to the Underworld to save his mother whom he had never seen, and arranged for her to live with the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. In the painting Moreau has used vivid colors and intense proportions to create a magical and mysterious feeling. Moreau describes the setting in a detailed manner; “in the midst of colossal ...

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...daughter Dionysus went to the Underworld to save his mother whom he had never had seen. Also included is the god Erebus and Nyx, Erebus is known as the embodiment of primordial darkness. Erebus was born with Nyx (Night), and is the father of aether (upper atmosphere), and Hemera (Day). Legend describes Erebus as the Infernal Region below the earth. In this version, Hades was split into two regions: Erebus, which the dead have to pass shortly after they have died, and Tartarus, the deepest region, where the Titans were imprisoned. I believe that this image was included because this must have been the region of the Underworld in which Semele was occupying before being saved by her son. These and many, many other characters including a three-headed demon and angelic figures fill the lush and dramatic scene with a mystical quality to them. These mythological characters are not randomly selected, yet they are all intertwined in an elaborate composition, all of which shed light on the overall story of Jupiter and Semele. The intricate setting is one of the many ways in which Gustave Moreau creates his Visionary masterpieces, and that certainly reigns true in Jupiter and Semele.