Annunciation
Maurice Denis
MAURICE DENIS, 1912. OIL ON CANVAS.
Avant-garde sensibility and traditional religious thought are rectified in Denis’ work, quite unlike any of his contemporaries. From his teenage years, the French artist of humble means understood his role in life was to be a Christian painter, and while he was a seminal figure in various movements of radical modernity, he never deviated from this mission. Denis built a philosophy and theory around art-making that saw its purpose as a continuation of the act of Creation, as in the Genesis stories. The essence of art, for him, was the expression of love and faith and to serve as a refuge from the darkness of the world. He did not see beauty around him in the everyday, so attempted to find it in his paintings as a way of showing his faith and trust in God’s creation. Yet while these ideas about the function of art had existed for centuries before him, it was the style in which he applied them that made Denis so unique amongst religious artists. He was a founding member of the Nabis, a key Impressionist and a godfather to Cubism, Fauvism and Abstract art. While his contemporary artists were forsaking traditional roles across their lives as they forged a new artistic language, Denis remained personally traditional, living a stable and austere life that found joy in faith and family.