Inter artes et naturam (Between Art and Nature)
ca. 1890–95
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
15 7/8 x 44 3/4 in. (40.3 x 113.7 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham, 1958
Accession Number
58.15.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pierre Puvis de Chav, a leading French Symbolist painter of the late 19th, created *Inter artes et naturamBetween Art and Nature)* 1890–95. Known for his poetic, dreamlike murals adorning public spaces like the Paris Panthéon, Puvis blended classical idealism with subtle mysticism. This oil on canvas exemplifies his signature style: simplified forms, soft contours, and a harmonious palette evoking timeless reverie. The elongated panoramic format (15⅞ × 44¾ inches) suggests a frieze-like composition, bridging the worlds of artistic creation and the natural environment. The title, Latin for "Be...
About the Artist
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes · 1824–1898
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824–1898) was a French painter who became the foremost muralist of nineteenth-century France and a crucial bridge between academic tradition and modernism. Born in Lyon to a prosperous family, he studied briefly with Henri Scheffer and Thomas Couture in Paris and traveled to Italy, where the frescoes of the Italian Renaissance made a lasting impression on his artistic v...