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Villa Medici and Galleria Borghese are organizing two study days on the theme of the worlds of Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), on May 21 and 22, 2026.
To mark the bicentenary of Gustave Moreau‘s birth, Villa Medici and the Galleria Borghese have decided to pay tribute to the famous history painter with two sessions, one in Rome and the other in Paris. The Roman session will focus on Moreau’s deep ties with the “land of the masters”, an essential source of his artistic and intellectual training. The other session will examine the artist’s involvement in Parisian artistic circles and his role in the emergence and affirmation of Symbolism.
Presenting himself as the renovator of French history painting at the time of his first success at the 1864 Salon, Gustave Moreau based his entire artistic project on his fruitful and patient research during his study trip to Italy, from October 1857 to September 1859. During this trip, the Roman sojourns were particularly important for the man who had twice failed the École des Beaux-Arts competitive examination. Introduced to Victor Schnetz, director of Villa Medici, who received him in early November 1857 and introduced him to the other boarders, Moreau made friends with Jules-Élie Delaunay, Henri Chapu and Georges Bizet, and also frequented the “Académie du soir”, where he met the young Edgar Degas. On his return, Moreau decorated his private apartments with his Italian copies, continuing to bask in the aura of the masters and reminding visitors of the origins of his art.
The Roman session will not only provide an opportunity to revisit this exceptionally well-documented period, but also to open up new research perspectives, notably on the Italian artistic context at the time of Moreau’s stay, or to address historiographical issues such as the exhibition Gustave Moreau e l’Italia organized by Geneviève Lacambre at Villa Medici in 1996. Thirty years on, the day will invite researchers to continue the international dialogue.
On this occasion, five engravings signed by Gustave Moreau, from the Fondazione Primoli, will be exhibited in the Grand Salon of Villa Medici.
PROGRAM
Thursday, May 21st 2026 – Galleria Borghese, Loggia
Round table
- 6 pm Welcome address by Francesca Cappelletti (Galleria Borghese)
Speakers: Giovanna Capitelli (Università Roma Tre), Luisa Capodieci (Université de Lorraine, CRULH), Francesca Castellani (Università Iuav di Venezia), Peter Cooke (Art Historian).
Moderator: Maria Grazia Messina (Università degli Studi di Firenze)
Friday, May 22, 2026 – Villa Médicis, Grand Salon
- 10:00 Opening with Sam Stourdzé and Alessandro Gallicchio (Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis)
- 10:15 Introduction by Luisa Capodieci (Université de Lorraine, CRULH) and Pierre Pinchon (Aix-Marseille Université, TELEMMe)
Being an artist in Italy at the time of Independence
Session chaired by: Alessandro Gallicchio (Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis)
- 10:30 am Giovanna Capitelli (Università Roma Tre)
Le arti a Roma 1857-1859: occasioni, cantieri, incontri, scontri - 11:15 am Coffee break
- 11:30 am Francesca Castellani (Università Iuav di Venezia)
“Becoming a colorist”. Il viaggio a Venezia come antagonismo culturale, 1856-1860 - 12.15 pm Peter Cooke (Art historian)
Gustave Moreau and Italy: the transformation of Romantic painting
Italy after Italy
Session chaired by Charles Villeneuve de Janti (Musée Gustave-Moreau and Musée Jean-Jacques Henner)
- 2:30 pm Pierre Pinchon (Aix-Marseille Université, TELEMMe)
Immersion, petrification and generation: memories of the Buontalenti Grotto in Gustave Moreau’s work - 3:15 pm Sara Vitacca (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, Besançon, Centre Lucien Febvre)
Alle origini del simbolismo italiano: la ricezione fin-de-siècle di Gustave Moreau, George F. Watts ed Edward Burne-Jones - 4 pm Luisa Capodieci (University of Lorraine, CRULH)
Ritorno all’Accademia di Francia a Roma. Gustave Moreau e l’Italia, Villa Medici 1996
Debate
Organizing committee
Luisa Capodieci (Université de Lorraine, CRULH)
Alessandro Gallicchio (Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis)
Pierre Pinchon (Aix-Marseille Université, TELEMMe)Scientific Committee
Luisa Capodieci, Professor of Art History, Université de Lorraine
Alessandro Gallicchio, Director of the Department of Art History, Académie de France à Rome – Villa Médicis
Pierre Pinchon, Professor of Art History, Aix-Marseille Université
Charles Villeneuve de Janti, Director of the Gustave-Moreau and Jean-Jacques Henner national museums
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Free on reservation
Thursday May 21, 2026, Galleria Borghese: registration
Friday May 22, 2026, Villa Medici: registration
Study day organized in Rome by Villa Medici and the Galleria Borghese, on the theme “The worlds of Gustave Moreau”
The event will be held in Italian.
For further information, write to [email protected]
