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12: Maurice Denis's decorative ensemble The Story of Psyche. Room 2


The Story of Psyche. Sixth Panel. Psyche's Parents Abandon her on the Summit of the Mountain

1909

Denis, Maurice

The sixth panel. Psyche's beauty is so perfect that no mortal could conceive of becoming her husband. Suspecting the hostility of heaven, the king consults an ancient oracle. The will of fate is horrible. Psyche is to become the wife of a malevolent and terrible god. The king and queen mourn for many days. At last they accept the lamentable marriage and, on the oracle's instructions, bring Psyche to a rock at the top of a mountain where her kin take their leave of her.

In January 1909 Denis travelled to Moscow at Morozov's invitation and repainted certain areas of his panels, toning down the colours for the sake of better harmony with the architecture of the hall. Further works were needed for that same purpose. The artist produced two panels to be placed above the doors: Psyche's Parents Abandon her on the Summit of the Mountain and Cupid carries Psyche to  the Heavens, two narrow panels for the western wall and two strips to be placed each side of the central, third panel of the series: Psyche discovers that her Secret lover is Cupid. Apart from those, two strips were planned to flank the door. The work was done after the artist's return to France. As before, the finished canvases were preceded by sketches and drawings. All the additional panels were completed by the autumn of 1909.

 

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