Rating and value of paintings and drawings by Gustave Moreau

Paintings and drawings by Gustave Moreau trade up to €2,412,175 on the auction market. An appraisal enables us to accurately determine the price of your work by Gustave Moreau on the current market and to optimize, if necessary, the sale of a work.

If you own a work by Gustave Moreau and would like to know its value, our state-approved auctioneers will carry out a free appraisal based on authenticity, quotation and recent market results.

Rating and value of the artist Gustave Moreau     

Fantin-Latour is an artist born of symbolism. His legacy consists mainly of paintings and drawings. At present, prices for his works are exploding under auctioneers' hammers.

His oils on canvas are particularly prized above all by English buyers, and the price at which they sell on the art market ranges from €55 to €2,412,175, a considerable delta but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to Moreau's works.

His painting entitled Le poète et la sirène sold for €2,412,175 while it was estimated at between €1,930,000 and €2,900,000. The artist's quotation is very high and varies according to the quantity of works present on the auction market.

Order of value ranging from a single work to the most prestigious

Situate the artist

Period

Gustave Moreau (1826 - 1898) belongs to the second half of the 19th century, in a context dominated by realism and then the rise of Impressionism, to which he opposes because of an idealistic, erudite and antinaturalistic conception of art.

He trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and was part of an academic tradition that he gradually diverted towards a painting of the imaginary, nourished by literary, mythological and religious references.

His Paris studio became an autonomous place of production and reflection, conceived as a personal museum. 

Current

Gustave Moreau is a major figure of pictorial symbolism, a movement founded on the primacy of ideas, myth and dreams over the representation of reality. He explicitly rejected positivism and direct observation of nature, in favor of a more interior, allegorical style of painting.

He maintained an intellectual proximity to symbolist artists such as Odilon Redon and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. They shared the same quest for transcendence and timelessness.

As a teacher, he would train artists of the next generation on whom he would exert an influence, such as Henri Matisse or Georges Rouault.

The life of Gustave Moreau

Training

Gustave Moreau was born in Paris in 1826, into a cultured environment that fostered his early interest in the arts and classical humanities. He was trained at the École de Beaux-Arts, and received a rigorous academic education.

He gradually developed a personal approach on the bangs of the dominant naturalism. After several trips to Italy, where he studied the Renaissance masters, he developed a scholarly visual culture based on history, mythology and biblical texts. 

Atelier

Gustave Moreau established himself early on as one of the major figures of pictorial symbolism, favoring suggestion, allegory and the spiritual dimension of the image over the representation of reality.

Recognized during his lifetime, he was appointed professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1891, but at the same time continued to produce in his historic studio, which he bequeathed to the State, giving rise to the museum that bears his name, conceived as a manifesto of his artistic and aesthetic thought.

Techniques of the artist

Style of Gustave Moreau

His aesthetic is characterized by decorative overload, chromatic richness and iconographic ambiguity.

Gustave Moreau is also the critical heir to Romantic painting, notably Delacroix, distinguishing himself at the same time by greater fixity and a contemplative dimension.

Focus on a key work

L'apparition (circa 1876)

L'apparition is an emblematic painting of Symbolism, illustrating the biblical episode of Salome confronted with the visionary apparition of the head of Saint John the Baptist.

The composition is hieratic and theatrical, organized around an accentuated frontality and an unreal space, detached from any naturalistic narrative logic. He makes expressive use of color and light, giving the scene a hallucinatory mystical dimension.

Moreau gives precedence to idea and symbol over verisimilitude, the work aiming less to represent an event than to elicit a mental experience.

FAQ : How to estimate a work by Gustave Moreau ?

1) What is the first step in estimating a work by Gustave Moreau ?

The appraisal begins with the precise identification of the nature of the work (painting, drawing, watercolor or preparatory study), taking into account the complex and often mixed techniques employed by the artist.

2) What stylistic criteria specific to Gustave Moreau are decisive ?

The analysis will focus on iconographic richness, symbolic elaboration of subject matter, quality of drawing and chromatic refinement, but also on the degree of completion of the work.

3) What role do provenance and institutional links  play?

Provenance is a major factor in enhancing the work's value, particularly when it establishes a link with historical collections, past exhibitions or sometimes with the artist's entourage and the corpus kept at the museum dedicated to him or her.

Market segmentation

Price of works

In Gustave Moreau, there is a strong hierarchy between completed paintings, works on paper and preparatory sketches.

Paintings constitute a rare segment where works regularly fetch several hundred thousand euros, or even in excess of a million for ambitious compositions.

Drawings and watercolors constitute the heart of the market, with a majority range between €10,000 and €150,000.

Very elaborate and iconographically complex works if representative of the Symbolist aesthetic are valued exponentially compared to studies or working sheets, often auctioned between €5,000 and €20,000. 

Valuation factors

There is a significant premium for works with an early provenance, an established bibliography or participation in historic exhibitions. These are criteria that can lead to a price increase of 30-50% over comparable works.

The market is characterized by low liquidity but high tension on major works  the annual number of significant lots at public sale remains limited. The price is solid over the long term.

Recognizing Gustave Moreau's signature   

The artist does not always sign his works. If you think you own one, it's best to have it appraised. The signature may differ depending on the type of work: sculpture, drawing or painting. There are also copies, which is why expertise is important.

Get an estimate for your work by Gustave Moreau  

If you own a work by Gustave Moreau, an estimate enables you to assess its value on the current market.

Using our online form, our experts and certified auctioneers will carry out a free appraisal and provide you with a reliable estimate of your work's market value.

 If you're considering selling it, we'll work with you to ensure that you get the best value.