Maurice Denis (1870–1943) and the Sacred Grove: Temporality in Fin de Siècle France

Abstract

This article explores the temporalities of three of Maurice Denis’ paintings from his Nabis period: The Green Trees, or Beech Trees in Kerduel (1893, Musée d’Orsay); The Muses (1893, Musée d’Orsay); and April, or The Anemones (1891, private collection). All three paintings represent scenes set in forests or woods populated by ethereal figures engaged in processions along paths delimitated amid the trees. I have chosen to name this natural setting “sacred groves.” In the “Definition of Neo-Traditionalism,” Denis defined his artistic practice as the “sanctification of nature.” To Denis, art has the ability to make nature sacred. Denis’ use of natural environments in his works, such as the woods and the forest, holds a particular meaning that goes beyond mere landscape painting. I argue that The Green Trees, The Muses, and April are three paintings that synchronize multiple levels of temporality within them: spiritual, decorative, and mythical. Temporal synchronicity is made possible by the subject of the sacred grove that ties these levels together and grants their homogeneity and integrity. My approach is inspired by art historian Giovanni Careri’s concept of the revival of the work of art in the “Now-Time.” As works meant to decorate modern interiors or to be kept private for spiritual contemplation, their purpose is revived in the viewer’s time, the “Now-Time.” Thus, this article questions the way this revival functions with mythical times, how a work can connect private spaces with linear and public time, and how the spatiotemporality of the decorative, central to Maurice Denis’ art, is articulated around the paintings’ spiritual purpose.