The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

It Was a Religious Mystery

1899

Maurice Denis

(French, 1870–1943)
printer

August Clot

(French, 1858–1936)
publisher

Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1867–1939)
color lithograph on wove paper
Image: 41.4 x 29.5 cm (16 5/16 x 11 5/8 in.); Sheet: 53.5 x 40.6 cm (21 1/16 x 16 in.)
Purchase from the Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust and partial gift of Stephen Dull 2021.170.5
Catalogue raisonné: Cailler 111
Location: Not on view

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.
  • ?-2021
    (Georgina Kelman Works on Paper, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    December 6, 2021-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cailler, Pierre. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre gravé et lithographié de Maurice Denis. Geneve: Éditions Pierre Cailler, 1968. Mentioned p. 111
  • {{cite web|title=It Was a Religious Mystery|url=false|author=Maurice Denis, August Clot, Ambroise Vollard|year=1899|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.170.5