Artwork Page for She Was More Beautiful Than Dreams

Details / Information for She Was More Beautiful Than Dreams

Series Title: Love, Amour

She Was More Beautiful Than Dreams

1899

Maurice Denis

(French, 1870–1943)
printer

August Clot

(French, 1858–1936)
publisher

Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1867–1939)
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Culture
Medium
color lithograph on wove paper
Measurements
Image: 40.4 x 29.1 cm (15 7/8 x 11 7/16 in.); Sheet: 53 x 40.3 cm (20 7/8 x 15 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust and partial gift of Stephen Dull 2021.170.8
Catalogue raisonné
Cailler 114
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Maurice Denis was a devout Catholic and often drew visual connections between his wife, Marthe, the subject of this print series, and the Virgin Mary.

Description

Maurice Denis belonged to the Nabis, a group of artists who came together in 1889 to pursue a radical new style informed by subjective experience and emotion. This print is from a series in which Denis explored his devotion to his wife, Marthe, by depicting her in a variety of settings alongside titles drawn from his own journal. The vague but evocative images were meant to encourage the viewer to draw connections to the theme and meditate on its meaning.
A vertically oriented color lithograph, soft and grainy in texture, depicts a woman with a light skin tone. Her form is hazy, facing our left with eyes downcast against a muted green and yellow background of trees. Pale pink and white roses cluster at the bottom left. Below, handwritten French text reads "Elle était plus belle que les rêves," signed "maurice denis." Layered, atmospheric tones merge the figure into the scene.

She Was More Beautiful Than Dreams

1899

Maurice Denis, August Clot, Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1870–1943), (French, 1858–1936), (French, 1867–1939)

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