La Méditerranée
1902 - 1905
Aristide Maillol
This woman seems unaware of her surroundings. Lost in thought, she sits still, seemingly unmoved. It is difficult to know what is going on under the surface. Thus, she personifies the calm of a quasi-enclosed sea with almost no tides: the Mediterranean. Her seated pose, harmoniously based on triangles, emphasizes the sculpture’s tranquility.
Details
- Plan number: V10
- Zone: Entanglement
- Title: La Méditerranée (the Mediterranean Sea)
- Creator: Aristide Maillol
- Date: 1902 - 1905
- Material: bronze
- Acquisition: purchase, 1951
- Object number: MID.B.032
This work is characterized by its great simplicity. Aristide Maillol went against the trend of the early 20th century, with its preference for exaggerated movements and tense muscle masses. With Maillol, everything is smooth, rounded.
Maillol drew inspiration from classical Greek sculpture. In ancient thought, gods, people, and nature were part of one big, coherent image of humans and the world. Here, too, Maillol has fused human and nature into a single sculpture.
French artist Aristide Maillol studied painting, made book illustrations, and designed tapestries. As a sculptor, he started with terracotta. From 1900, he worked in wood, later in stone and bronze as well. He is known for his female nudes in a neoclassical style inspired by the idealized human figures of classical Greek sculpture.
From the same artist
Aristide Maillol
Writhing and twisting, arms tensed as if resisting great pressure, this woman personifies powerfully flowing water. She is close to the ground, hanging over the edge of the plinth: she is caught in the moment, losing control.
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