Monument to Puvis de Chavannes

In 1891, Rodin made a bust of his friend Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), a great mural painter and one of the most famous artists of his time (together with Monet and Rodin himself). De Chavannes died in 1898, and Rodin was commissioned for a memorial soon afterwards. He created a curious assemblage of pre-existing figures and objects: the painter’s bust was placed on two capitals, one on top of the other on a table; leaning towards the bust was a large Spirit of Eternal Repose (also known as Funerary Spirit) picking apples from a tree, symbolizing the painter’s fame and his well-deserved peace after death.

The reference to antiquity, prominent in the work of Puvis de Chavannes, dominates this bold installation: the superposition of architectural elements suggests the stacked remains at archaeological sites, while the Spirit was derived from a classical sculpture in the Louvre. Although Rodin never finished the monument, it may have been a source of inspiration for the extraordinary Surrealist Table (1933) by Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).

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