The Muse Inspiring the Poet

is a painting created by the French artist Henri Rousseau in 1909, characterized by its unique blend of naive and primitivist styles.

Subjects

The painting is a double portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire, a French poet, and his mistress, Marie Laurencin, who was also an artist. Apollinaire was a significant figure in the Parisian avant-garde, and Laurencin was known for her own artistic contributions and her slender, elegant appearance.

Versions

Rousseau created two versions of this work. The first version, which is now in the Kunstmuseum Basel, features Apollinaire and Laurencin in a landscape with wallflowers at their feet. The wallflowers were mistakenly included instead of the requested Turkish carnations, which symbolized poets. This mistake led to some controversy, as wallflowers symbolize death and oblivion.

The second version, now in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, was painted after Apollinaire requested a new portrait. This version is more schematized and attempts to create a more salon-like painting, with more averaged and simplified figures and landscape.

Style and Technique

The painting is executed in oil on canvas and measures 146×97 cm. Rousseau's style in this work reflects his admiration for academic painting, despite being associated with the naive and primitivist movements. He sought to balance his unique style with more traditional elements, which is evident in the comparison between the two versions of the painting.

Provenance

The version in the Kunstmuseum Basel was purchased by the museum in 1940 through the Swiss art dealer Christoph Bernoulli. However, in 2021, the heirs of Charlotte von Wesdehlen requested the restitution of the work, citing its previous ownership by the Jewish art collector Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

Significance

The Muse Inspiring the Poet is significant not only for its artistic value but also for its historical context and the relationships it depicts within the early 20th-century Parisian art and literary circles. It highlights Rousseau's unique approach to portraiture and his interactions with influential figures of his time.