Salome: Magic in Feminine Sexuality
Willa Cosinuke
Raffaele Bedarida
October, 6, 2015
Gustave Mureau’s, Salome (Salome Dancing before Herod), 1876, is a depiction
of the biblical story of woman named Salome, and her dance for Herod, her stepfather and Galilean ruleri. Herod tells Salome that if she dances for him he will give her anything
she would like. Salome plans to ask her stepfather to behead John the Baptist. The paintings narrative and biblical references seem to suggest that Moreau’s motivation was
to create a historical painting. However, through his use of symbolism, it is evident that
Moreau is trying to represents the feminine power of lust and mysticism. ok Comment [1]: You’ll explain this in the paper
The central point of the paintings composition is Salome, who it towards the left of Comment [2]: syntax the painting. Herod is sitting on a thrown directly in the center. There is a man on the right Comment [3]: spelling of Herod, dressed in red with a white veil covering his face He is the executioner and who will behead john the Baptist. Herodias, Salome’s mother, is on the left.ii Next to Herodias there is another figure that is a musician. iii ok
In a very similar painting by Gustave Moreau, called The Apparition, 1876, depicts Comment [4]: syntax a very similar scene to Salome (Salome Dancing before Herod). In both paintings there is a woman on the left of the composition, wearing the same type of garments, with their heads downs, left arm extended and right arm bent towards their faces. Both paintings are depicted in similar looking palaces with a man on a thrown. However, in The Apparition Formatted: Highlight the woman’s extended arm is pointing to a man’s head floating in midair. He has a halo, and is therefor a saint, with a severed neck and light emanating from it. This image shows is a vision of john the Baptists head which the woman is seeing and pointing at.iv Comment [5]: J Formatted: Highlight The woman in Salome (Salome Dancing before Herod) seems to be referencing this head, which was painted in Moreau’s The Apparition. HOW IS THIS COMPARISON
HELPFUL? COMPARISONS ARE USED BY ART HISTORIANS TO SUPPORT A POINT OR TO EMPHASIZE SOMETHING SPECIFIC ABOUT A WORK OR AN
ARTIST. HERE, YOU JUST SAY THAT THESE TWO PAINITNGS LOOK ALIKE
Salome, in Salome (Salome Dancing before Herod), standing in the foreground,
draws they eye. She has a white veil that falls down the length of her body and a very Formatted: Highlight
large forehead. She is standing with her left arm straight, and raised out in front of her.
Salome’s right arm is drawn up towards her face and she holds a light pink flower. The
flower she is holding represents sexuality.v She is also standing on a red, carpet strewn Comment [6]: Could represent sexuality
with roses, which along with sexuality, also seem to symbolize femininity, purity,
fragility or virginity. Also laying on the red carpet, is a large black panther, which Comment [7]: This is a bunch of different things: you should explain why the red carpet femininity (what kind of femininity?), vi represents lust. Salome is adorned with items that represent female sexuality. Salome why purity? Etc. Comment [8]: You need to explain why. also wears a bracelet that is the “Ujat of ancient Egyptians” which is supposed to hold The fact that you are citing your source is not enough (often art historians disagree on the interpretation of a work, so you need to vii “magic fluid”. Not only does the items Moreau surround Salome with represent explain why you found this reading convincing) female sexuality, but also feminine magic. Formatted: Highlight Comment [9]: Like what? Why are they feminine If you look closely, the painting reveals that Salome is preforming a dance. Her head is down and her arm is up but not pointing at anything. Everyone is looking at her, initially it seems as if she is preforming some sort of ritual or performance. The title of the
Painting, Salome (Salome Dancing before Herod) suggests that her stance is part of a dance she is preforming to the person on the thrown, Herod. Herod’s focused gaze seems Formatted: Highlight to represent that he is intensely memorized by Salome’s dance, again referencing lust. It Comment [10]: Wrong word also exemplifies how her sexuality and gives her enormous power, almost like magic. Comment [11]: syntax
If you look closer at Salome’s dance, you might notice she is on her tiptoes, in a way that is not humanly possibleviii. By doing this, “…the artist has removed her from reality by representing her almost hovering…” ix Depicting her as “hovering” seems to allude to magic, and makes Salome seem greater than just a normal woman.x Moreau said, “’In my Salome’,… I wished to render the figure of a sibyl or religious enchantress with a mysterious character. And do I conceives the costume which is like a reliquary’.
Salome’s action is not a dance… It is magical ritual, preformed with the aim of bewitching Herod.”xi Moreau intentionally put Salome in a inhuman position to communicate her magical and mystical side. Others have described her dance as a
“…spell of lust…” xii and a “ …symbolic deity of indestructible Lust…”xiii Moreau seems to be suggesting; through symbolism that Salome represents the magical or spell-casting- like side of feminine sexuality. ok
Objects also depicted in the painting work as symbols to display Moreau’s idea of
Salome’s feminine power and sexuality. Above Herod thrown there is a statue of a figure Formatted: Highlight with spread arms pointing to the bottom corners of the picture and to two smaller figures on either side of the sculpture. There are several theories of what this sculpture might be of.
One theory is that the statue is of the “many-breasted” Phrygian goddess. xiv Others believe it is a statue of Diana of Ephesus. With multiple breasts, she is a symbol of fertility, and the smaller figures are thought to be the “Persian god of death”, Ahriman. xv No matter which theories are correct the multiple breast of the central figure undoubtedly represent female fertility. The god of death statues, placed next to the woman with multiple breasts alludes to female power and sexuality in an almost dangerous way. The figures are possibly referencing
Salome’s drive to kill John the Baptist.
The architecture and atmosphere of the painting also represent Salome as a symbol of female sexuality and magic. The architecture and decoration of the space makes it feel like some sort of palace or a place for very important people. The bright light coming in from the right of the painting creates an atmosphere that is awe provoking. The painting has a very central composition. The composition has three arches in the background. The arch in the center is the brightest light of all of them. In the central arch you can also see further into the distance. There are also two ornate pillars closer to the picture plane of the painting on the left and right of the frame. One source suggests, “The atmosphere of mystery and sensuality is heightened by the rays of diffused light coming down from the vaulting….”xvi Even the compositional elements of the painting emphasize Salome’s feminine sexuality. One source explains, “The entire paint surface has been mobilized to suggest the bewitching eroticism of Salome’s dance, which leaves everyone in Herod’s palace hall spellbound”.xvii
It is very evident that Moreau is using symbolism to represent female sexuality and magic in Salome. These ideas are inevitably in relation to the historical story of the painting. All of a sudden when her sexuality and magic is put into context of her plan to kill Comment [12]: but they are also about 1876 in France. Otherwise why are we discussing it here? John the Baptist her character has an eerie twist. Salome seems almost like a siren, using Comment [13]: this context does not say much about Moreau and the context where her magical powers to entrance Herod and use him to get what she wants. Salome becomes the painting was made an almost evil female sorcerer, which gives her even more power in the painting.
You have conducted a good iconographic reading of the work, which is a good starting point. The next step would be a discussion of why those symbols and the story of Salome in general were interesting and significant in 19th century France. Formatted: Superscript Otherwise analyze the work simply as an illustration of the Biblical story that it depicts. (So, why are we discussing it in a 19th century art history class?) A research Formatted: Superscript of the context when and where the painting was made would make your reading of feminine sexuality in Moreau stronger. For example you could discuss the idea of Femme Fatale and could complicate the very idea of femininity as a construct that is the product of specific historical circumstances. Major problems of syntax and spelling.
Grade: 10/15
i Chu, Petra Ten-Doesschate. Nineteenth-century European Art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2003. Print. ii Moreau, Gustave, Geneviève Lacambre, Larry J. Feinberg, Marie-Laure De. Contenson, and Douglas W. Druick. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream. N.p.: Princeton UP, 1999. Print. (164) iii Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. 9 (214) iv Moreau, Gustave, Geneviève Lacambre, Larry J. Feinberg, Marie-Laure De. Contenson, and Douglas W. Druick. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream. N.p.: Princeton UP, 1999. Print. (167) v Mathieu, Pierre-Louis, and Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau: With a Catalogue of the Finished Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1976. Print. (124) vi Mathieu, Pierre-Louis, and Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau: With a Catalogue of the Finished Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1976. Print. (124) vii Mathieu, Pierre-Louis, and Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau: With a Catalogue of the Finished Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1976. Print. (124) viii Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.(226) ix Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. (223) x Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. (223) xi Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. (223) xii Cooke, Peter. "'It Isnt a Dance': Gustave Moreau's "Salome" and "The Apparition"" Endinburgh University Press (2011): 214-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Sept. 2015. (225) xiii Moreau, Gustave, Geneviève Lacambre, Larry J. Feinberg, Marie-Laure De. Contenson, and Douglas W. Druick. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream. N.p.: Princeton UP, 1999. Print.(166) xiv Moreau, Gustave, Geneviève Lacambre, Larry J. Feinberg, Marie-Laure De. Contenson, and Douglas W. Druick. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream. N.p.: Princeton UP, 1999. Print. (166)
xv Mathieu, Pierre-Louis, and Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau: With a Catalogue of the Finished Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1976. Print. (124) xvi Mathieu, Pierre-Louis, and Gustave Moreau. Gustave Moreau: With a Catalogue of the Finished Paintings, Watercolors, and Drawings. Boston, MA: New York Graphic Society, 1976. Print. (124) xvii Chu, Petra Ten-Doesschate. Nineteenth-century European Art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2003. Print. (481)