Maurice Denis · Illustrer la mystique chrétienne

At the Musée d’Orsay, The Imitation of Christ is viewed page by page. The museum has acquired a loose, unbound copy, as it could be purchased at its publication in 1903. By juxtaposing the printed sheets with Maurice Denis’s preparatory drawings, the display reveals all that is at stake between the first pencil stroke and an image destined for wood engraving.

Denis discovered this medieval devotional manual as a teenager, traditionally attributed to Thomas à Kempis. The text presents a way of living one’s faith. To turn it into an illustrated book, the Nabi painter must give shape to ideas that do not always lend themselves to narrative. He traces a contour with a tracing, tries a wash, or plays with contrasts so that the image accompanies the reading. He worked on it for about ten years before its publication by Ambroise Vollard. The choice of wood engraving was meant to appeal to lovers of fine books. The volume, however, met with little success upon its release.

The studies drawn from the drawings recently acquired by the museum extend into paintings and other projects with Christian themes. The scale changes, but the question that runs through the book remains: what can an image suggest that words do not express in the same way?

Practical information
- Thursday evening opening until 9:45 p.m.
- Closed on Mondays and December 25.
- Free admission on December 5 and 6 for its anniversary, with opening hours until 8 p.m. on Saturday the 5.