• Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929)

• 16,8 x 22,3 cm
• Graphite pencil and watercolour on vellum paper
• MB d. 2480
• Paris, musée Bourdelle

Bourdelle’s work was frequently inspired by mythological themes. The centaur has a special place in it, as shown by some of the frescoes adorning the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, his famous sculpture the Centaure Mourant (Dying Centaur) and by many watercolours in which the artist freely expressed his sensibility in scenes with varied compositions. Among these, the Centauresse (Centauress) embodies the duality of this half-animal, half-human figure, made of contrasts and opposites: flesh colour and azure blue; sinuous lines and a pyramid shape; power and delicateness; momentum and calm. The centaur embodies an internal struggle, which can be seen as that of the Bourdelle’s centaurs, spirituality seems to finally triumph over the brutality of the legendary creature, as the mind of the artist collaborates with his manual gift to give ideas a material form.

Notice's author : Stéphane Ferrand