Christa Giles

…dans la morne rue, le souvenir ébloui de ces
oeuvres persistait, mais les scènes ne
paraissaient plus en leur ensemble; elles se
disséminaient, dans la mémoire, en leurs
infatigables détails, en leurs minuties
d’accessoires estranges. 521
201
Complexity, the intellectualisation of the subject through
recondite symbols, and the excessive use of detail within a
formalised structure characterizes Moreau’s work. Apart
from the evocation of ˝more cordial epochs,˝ the preciosity
and dreamlike quality of Moreau’s paintings, Wilde and
Huysmans no doubt appreciated their dramatic quality. For
while the surface of his paintings often exhibited an ornate
patterning, the overall subject was contained within a
dramatic moment which encapsulated the theme. Moreau
usually showed figures at a moment of confrontation rather
than action. In ˝Oedipus and the Sphinx,˝ for example,
Oedipus faces the Sphinx, immobile, in a moment of tense
stillness. Similarly, in ˝Hercules and the Hydra,˝ we see
Hercules posed in a dramatic gesture, hand suspended in
mid air, facing the Hydra across a mountain of bodies. This
confrontation is juxtaposed with a middle ground of
elaborately jutting patterned rocks which look strangely
modern beside the classical scene taking place in the