Loading
The Contemplator
Eugène Carrière1901
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
This painting illustrating Victor Hugo's poem <em>Boaz Sleeping</em> is one of five images Carrière created to commemorate the centennial of Hugo's birth. A reclining poet gazes at the stars above, as if in a dream, placing one hand over his heart and gesturing toward a crescent moon. The moon was thought to exert a special influence on poets and artists, inspiring not only creativity but darker thoughts of melancholy and suicide.
Show lessRead more
Download this artwork (provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Learn more about this artwork.
Details
- Title: The Contemplator
- Creator: Eugène Carrière (French, 1849–1906)
- Date Created: 1901
- Physical Dimensions: Framed: 47.6 x 57.2 x 5.1 cm (18 3/4 x 22 1/2 x 2 in.); Unframed: 33.6 x 41 cm (13 1/4 x 16 1/8 in.)
- Provenance: Édouard Pelletan [1854-1912], Paris, France, (Scott & Fowles, New York, NY, sold to Ralph King), Ralph King [1855-1926], Cleveland, OH, by gift in his memory from his family to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1946.283
- Medium: oil on fabric
- Inscriptions: Signed lower right, etched into paint layer, revealing white ground: Eugène Carrière
- Fun Fact: In this painting Carrière captures the atmosphere of Victor Hugo's poems through his expressive brushstrokes and monochromatic palette. The artist's monochrome paintings influenced Picasso and his Blue Period works.
- Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Culture: France, late 19th-early 20th Century
- Credit Line: In memory of Ralph King, gift of Mrs. Ralph King; Ralph T. Woods, Charles G. King; and Frances King Schafer
- Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
- Accession Number: 1946.283
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
