Maurice Denis

Illustration from Poemes, Surrealist Lithograph by Maurice Denis

1939

Painter, engraver and decorator, Maurice Denis. French artist, born in November 1870 in Granville in Normandy and died in November 1943. He studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris, then simultaneously at the École des beaux-arts and at the Académie Julien. However, Denis did not recognize himself in the naturalist style promoted by his teachers, so he formed Les Nabis with other artists such as Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard and Paul Elie Ranson. This group and artistic movement claims symbolism, partly inspired by Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard. Denis and the Nabis have a characteristic style which consists of the application of large areas of paint and the use of radical and unusual colors. Denis is a very productive painter. He exhibited numerous works alongside those of other Symbolists and Neo-Impressionists during the 1890s. A characteristic work of this period is Spring (1897) which is now part of the permanent collection of the Met in New York. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Denis exhibited his work regularly, both at the Salon de la Société Nationale and at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1914, he purchased and began the restoration of a 17th century priory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris. In 1980, the priory was transformed into a museum, dedicated to the works of Denis and more generally to the Nabi movement. The priory is renamed the Priory Departmental Museum. Denis' works have also been exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England.