Title: Dream states : Puvis de Chavannes, modernism, and the fantasy of France /
Authors: Shaw, Jennifer Laurie.; Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre, 1824-1898
Publisher: Yale University Press,
Year: 2002
Subjects: Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre, Criticism and interpretation.; Symbolism in art.; National characteristics in art.
Abstract: "Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) was a towering figure in late nineteenth-century France. The country's greatest public painter, he created murals that decorated museums in Amiens, Rouen, and Lyons as well as major buildings in Paris - most notably the Pantheon, the Sorbonne, and the city hall. Critics from the political right, left, and center, the avant-garde, the Academy, and the state all agreed on the importance of Puvis's murals. There was much controversy, however, over the meaning of these works."