On Artists, Models and Artworks: Balzac’s The Unknown Masterpiece and Ibsen’s When We Dead Awaken in Jacques Rivette’s Art Theory

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The artistic theory that French director Jacques Rivette (1928-2016) developed throughout his long career is concentrated in a very singular way in La Belle Noiseuse (1991). His reflection on issues such as the nature of the artist, the traumatic process of creation and the very essence of the artwork draws from many sources, most of them literary, which he links together very suggestively. Among the literary sources, Balzac's famous story The Unknown Masterpiece (Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu, 1837), of which the film is a very free adaptation, and Ibsen's last drama, When We Dead Awaken (Når vi døde vågner, 1899), stand out most notably. Rivette's fruitful connection of both texts is a matter that has barely been addressed by critics, despite its crucial importance for the interpretation of the film's artistic theory. This article analyzes this connection, focusing on the reasons that led Rivette to choose one of Ibsen's most obscure and least known plays and on the subtle way it is interwoven with Balzac's text.