“Galatea”
This mythical watercolor, gouache, ink, and tempera on cardboard painting, titled “Galatea”, is by the French symbolism artist, Gustave Moreau. It was painted in 1896, just two years before he died.
This piece depicts a part of the story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses in which the cyclops, Polyphemus, suffers an unrequited love for the Nereid sea nymph, Galatea. Galatea instead loves the shepherd, Acis, and is beyond his reach. Galatea rests on a bed of seaweed while the two figures are surrounded by marine flowering plants.
The story reads, “Here is a terrible giant who loves a beautiful nymph”. The paleness of Galatea’s reclining body, which represents the unattainable, contrasts beautifully with the dark coloring of forlorn Polyphemus who blends in with the background.
This is the second piece Moreau did of this subject, the first being an oil on wood painting from 1880. Moreau was quite fond of this myth, and had two photographs of works by other artists depicting this same subject hanging in his living room, which were Raphael’s “Triumph of Galatea” and Sebastiano del Piombo’s “Polyphemus”.
“Galatea” is currently on display at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Spain.
For more on Gustave Moreau, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
