Moreau's Solome at the Hammer

On Thursday, I roamed back to the Hammer Museum in Westwood for a stroll through the exquisite permanent collection and to Gustave Moreau's Salome special exhibit.  The Hammer has two famous paintings by Moreau:  "King David" (1878) and "Solome Dancing before Herod"  (1876).

The special exhibition devoted to "Solome Dancing before Herod" consists of 50 works including related paintings, drawings and preparatory studies drawn from the collection of the Gustave Moreau Museum in Paris.

This famous painting caused quite a stir when it was displayed in Paris in 1876.  It depicts the biblical story of the daughter of Herodias, whose seductive dance before her stepfather/uncle, Herod, persuaded the aging king to grant her the head of John the Baptist.  She danced at the request of her mother, Herodias, who wanted to silence John the Baptist from railing against her incestuous marriage to Herod, the brother of her murdered husband.

This story was also the theme of a one act opera "Salome" written by Richard Strauss based on Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of the French play by Oscar Wilde.  I saw this opera in Stuttgart in 1963 and was amazed by the dance of Solome where she declares her love and kisses the severed head of John the Baptist which she carries around on a silver platter. 

The paintings and drawings by Moreau are very interesting.  He used amazing detail in his drawings that cannot be seen in the ornate paintings.

"Solome Dancing before King Herod"

Moreau's "King David"  (detail)