The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées: Measured fury

While talking about Centaure mourant [Dying Centaur] (1911-1914), Bourdelle explained that he was "dying like all gods, because no one believed in him anymore." But throughout his career, the sculptor never ceased to believe in the creative vitality of Greek and Roman myths.

In January 1910, Bourdelle was called by Gabriel Thomas -his paton and friend- to the construction site of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Avenue Montaigne, in Paris. Initially tasked with creating the painted and sculpted decor, Bourdelle was soon involved in the architectural design of the project led by Auguste Perret. For two years, he reworked the design of the façade, for which he sculpted a monumental marble frieze and five low reliefs, and executed the decorative cycle of around forty frescoes. "I could never have produced [so much] without this strong communion" with Apollo, the "universal master builder", and with Bacchus-Dionysus, god of the "measured fury", he admitted. This double patronage encapsulates the sculptor's process, an interaction between mastery and impulse. It is also an indication of the plastic boldness and rich symbolism of the hybrid figures designed between 1905 and 1920.

Centaurs, fauns, bacchants and satyrs make for a fabulous parade celebratign the harmony discovered between architecture, monumental sculpture, an painting, "with the fury of a hymn or the abandon of an offering."