The Siren and the Poet

The Musée Gustave Moreau has joined forces with the Manufactures nationales to present, following its remarkable restoration, a new display of a major drawing by Gustave Moreau for The Siren and the Poet.

Organized as part of the national commemorations marking the bicentenary of Gustave Moreau’s birth (6 April 1826), this presentation will take place alongside the Salon du Dessin.

In 1894, Gustave Moreau received a commission for a tapestry cartoon from the Manufacture des Gobelins on a theme he had already explored two years earlier: The Siren and the Poet. He notably undertook the execution of a large-scale preparatory drawing intended for the Manufacture, to serve as the model for the weaving of the tapestry, completed in 1899. In this work, the painter transposed his Symbolist vision into a monumental format combining decorative refinement, oneiric mystery, and painterly mastery.

The restoration of this drawing—rediscovered in 2024 during an inventory campaign at the Mobilier national—provides the Musée Gustave Moreau with an opportunity to cast fresh light on this commission and to bring out from its reserves several preparatory works related to the tapestry, which will be on display.