Musée Gustave Moreau

The Musée national Gustave Moreau is an art museum dedicated to the works of the French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau (1826-1898). Located at 14, rue de la Rochefoucauld in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, the institution preserves the artist's former home and studio. It holds the largest and most significant collection of his work, encompassing thousands of paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures. The museum serves as a comprehensive record of Moreau's artistic output and working environment, offering insight into his creative process and the Symbolist movement.

The property was purchased in 1852 by Moreau's parents, and the family resided there for decades. In April 1895, Moreau decided to transform the building into a studio and museum for his work. He commissioned the architect Albert Lafon to construct large, north-lit studios on the upper floors, sacrificing his previous studio and the second floor to maximize the available space. Moreau actively prepared the museum, organizing and reworking his art to create a unified collection representing the entirety of his career. In his testament dated September 10, 1897, he bequeathed the building and its contents to the French state, stipulating that the collection must be kept together to reflect the sum of his life's work. Following Moreau's death on April 18, 1898, his friend and universal legatee, the poet Henri Rupp, completed the museum's installation, adding swivel frames and movable panels to display the works. The state accepted the bequest in 1902, on the condition that Rupp provide funds for the museum's upkeep. The museum officially opened to the public on January 14, 1903. Georges Rouault served as the first curator until his resignation in 1922, succeeded by George Desvallières in 1930. The museum underwent significant renovations between 2014 and 2015, which restored the ground floor to its original state and created new storage and a graphic arts cabinet. Since 2017, it has been part of a public administrative establishment under the Ministry of Culture, also encompassing the Musée Jean-Jacques Henner. Charles Villeneuve de Janti has directed the museum since 2023.

The museum's holdings are remarkably vast, totaling approximately 14,000 works. The core of the collection consists of around 1,200 paintings, mostly sketches or unfinished works, alongside 350 watercolors and pastels. The graphic arts are particularly well represented, with 4,830 drawings housed in cabinets and cupboards with pivoting shutters, numbered by Moreau himself, and an additional 5,000 drawings in reserve. The collection also includes 15 wax sculptures. A few works by other artists are present, including a portrait of Moreau by Edgar Degas, another by Gustave Ricard, a portrait of the artist's mother by Jules-Elie Delaunay, and a still life by the Flemish painter Jan Fyt.

The museum displays many of Moreau's most significant Symbolist compositions. Among the most notable works on view are Jupiter and Semele (1895), a large canvas exemplifying Moreau's principle of painting rivaling the intense colors of enamel. Other major exhibited works include The Apparition (circa 1875), Chimera (1884), and The Return of the Argonauts (1891-1897). The collection also features other important mythological and biblical subjects such as The Abduction of Europa, Prometheus, and The Unicorns.

The building is structured across three main floors above the ground level. The ground floor contains six small rooms overlooking a garden, four of which are decorated with drawings and sketches, including a room dedicated to Italian masters. The first floor preserves Moreau's family apartment, featuring a sea-green dining room, a bedroom, a boudoir, a hallway, and an office-library. The dining room retains its Louis XVI style chairs purchased in 1852, along with ceramics collected by Moreau's father, including a Moustier water fountain and Bernard Palissy plates. The office-library functions as a cabinet of curiosities, displaying rare books, antiquities, and studies of old masters copied by Moreau during his trips to Italy. An elegant spiral staircase designed by Albert Lafon connects the upper levels. The second floor consists of a large studio-room, while the third floor contains two smaller rooms displaying larger format works.

The Musée national Gustave Moreau is located at 14, rue de la Rochefoucauld in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It is accessible via the Paris Metro, with the nearest stations being Saint-Georges and Trinité - d'Estienne d'Orves on Line 12. The museum is open daily except Tuesday, and an admission fee is charged. It operates under the tutelage of the French Ministry of Culture. In 2011, the institution received the Maisons des Illustres label, a designation from the Ministry of Culture recognizing houses and memorials that commemorate the lives and works of significant historical figures. The painter's apartment was restored and opened to the public in 1991, and his reception cabinet was restored in 2003.