Nos âmes, en des gestes lents

Art Historical Context

Created by Maurice Denis between 1892 and 1899, *Nos âmes, en des gestes lents* ("Our Souls in Slow Gestures") reflects the artist’s deep engagement with Symbolist ideas during his Nabis years Denis, who believed that a painting should be “a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order,” used the lithograph’s soft, rhythmic forms to evoke an inner, spiritual world rather than a literal scene. The poetic title suggests themes of quiet introspection and the subtle language of gesture, hallmarks of the fin-de-siècle search for meaning beyond appearances. Printed in color on thin yellowish wove paper by master technician Auguste Clot and published by the enterprising Ambroise Vollard, the work belongs to the great revival of original lithography in the 1890s. Vollard’s editions gave artists like Denis the opportunity to reach new collectors while preserving the delicate tonal harmonies and matte surfaces that lithography could achieve. Measuring just over 11 by 16 inches in the image, this intimate print demonstrates how the medium allowed Symbolist ideas to circulate beyond the traditional confines of painting. Now in the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art, the lithograph stands as a quiet testament to Denis’s lifelong interest in uniting modern technique with spiritual feeling.