Compare and contrast the paintings `wayfaring poet` and `Fairy with grffons` both by Gustave Moreau

Gustave Moreau was a French painter during the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century . He is most known for his symbolic paintings that display a depth of beauty and skill . He had a diversity of subjects that varied from religious to mythological . He studied under some renowned painters which has increased his popularity . He was an adept and focused artist . His attention to each minute detail has classified him as one of the best of symbolic art of his time especially within his later years by the use of a camera

and his translations of those photos into painting . He is well remembered for the fact that despite his popularity that he would never sell his paintings to anyone but friends . Upon his death in 1898 , he bequeathed his whole collection and studio to the state which became The Moreau Gallery

Moreau became quite known for his choices of painting the mystical . In the painting , Le Poete Voyageur (The Wayfaring Poet , the artist chose the mythical beast of Pegasus , the Greek legendary flying horse , to add as a background to a musing bard . The darkness within the painting is suggestive of the dark train of thoughts of the poet , possessed of clove hoofs like the half goat and half man creature , Pan from Greek Mythology . The poet 's distracted facial expression hints of a time lost and not easily found which draws to the preclusion that he is a meandering entity that is seeking something . It is a startling piece of symbolic reference to humankind 's eternal dissatisfaction with the state and pace of life . Never satisfied and always searching . The futility of this search is well expressed in the dark and half light background of the rocks and starkness of the sky

Still in a mythological subject , Moreau 's painting , Le fee et le griffon or Fairy with Griffons bears a far lighter suggested mood . Most people perceive fairies as blithe creatures , whimsical and enchanted Griffons represent a mystical creature of distinct fierceness and agility due to being half lion and half bird . The female figure is almost benign in her facial expression , reminiscent of the purity usually depicted in the Virgin Mary in other works of the Renaissance period . Her relaxed pose and displayed fondness of the griffons suggest an entity fairy is at a distance as though not in as complete favor with the woman as the griffons are . Brilliant hues of blue with splashes of red and subdued yellow intermixed with the darker shades of gray and black in the painting 's color scheme seem to contrast each other as does the subject matter . The painting displays a suggested hope that is as it appears to be in reality at times but instead , darkness to harshness and the vibrant colors to fancifulness . It appeals to the more free part of humankind , the imagination

Though both paintings have a mythological subject matter , they differ greatly from each other in the projected views they display . One...