Male Nude by Puvis De Chavannes

Published on August 7, 2008 by Francois Hagnere in Art History

Puvis de Chavannes sublimated male bodies and beauties at all ages in his homoerotic paintings. He influenced many artists.

Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) is know as a leading figure of the symbolist movement. After classic and traditional studies, he turns to painting. He stayed twice in Italy where he studied with Delacroix. He was influenced by Ingres and Chasseriau whom he admired wall paintings.

Although he begins with much difficulty in this art, being criticized, he gains popularity and success in 1861 with “War and Peace”(“La Guerre et la Paix”) which will be completed by namely “Work” (“Le Travail”) in 1863 (see illustration). He then becomes a brilliant allegoric painter. He performed a great mural in Marseilles (see my article: “Marseilles : Longchamp Palace to the Glory of Water”), Poitiers and Paris Town Halls and the Boston Public Library. He is also famous for the wall paintings of the Panthéon in Paris. His works are extremely decorative and his influence on idealist painters such as Odilon Redon, Alexandre Sion or Alphonse Osbert was considerable and later on Nabis, Gauguin, Seurat and the young Picasso. He is considered a precursor of the avant-garde.

His male vision is essentially referring to Ancient Greece, glorifying men’s muscular strength and efforts. Male bodies and beauties at all ages really are sublimated in his representations.