In order to atone for killing his family, the mythical ancient Greek hero Hercules was tasked with completing twelve dif\ufb01cult feats. His second task was to slay the Lernaean Hydra, a water monster with multiple serpentine heads. Gustave Moreau depicted their encounter in this work, exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1876, indulging his taste for the ghoulish. Hercules confronts the Hydra in a swampy landscape, rendered as a primordial ooze of brown paint and strewn with the fragmented and decomposing bodies of previous victims. Calm and youthful, Hercules stands amid the carnage, weapon in hand, ready to sever the Hydra\u2019s seventh, \u201cimmortal\u201d head, which he will later bury.<\/p>\n
Despite the violent subject, the painting seems eerily still, almost frozen. Reinforcing this mysterious quality is Moreau\u2019s ability to combine suggestive, painterly passages with obsessive detail. His precise draftsmanship and otherworldly palette are the result of his painstaking methods; he executed numerous preliminary studies for every detail in the composition, even sketching live snakes at the Paris zoo.<\/p>\n
Moreau might have intended this mythological painting to express contemporary political concerns: he was profoundly aff ected by France\u2019s military defeat at the hands of Prussia in 1870\u201371. Hercules might literally personify France; the Hydra could represent Prussia. Whether or not this was the artist\u2019s intention, this monumental work portrays a moral battle between the forces of good and evil with intensity and power, combining history, myth, mysticism, and a fascination with the bizarre.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"179.3 \u00d7 154 cm (70 9\/16 \u00d7 60 5\/8 in.); Framed: 226.7 \u00d7 201.9 cm (89 1\/4 \u00d7 79 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":154,"height":179,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":null,"width":201,"height":226,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed lower left: Gustave Moreau","credit_line":"Gift of Mrs. Eugene A. Davidson","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Albert Merat, Le Petit Salon (Paris, 1876), p. 18\n\nVictor de Swarte, Lettres sur le Salon de 1876 (Paris, 1876), p. 79.\n\nGeorges Dufour, Le Grand Art et le Petit Art au Salon de 1876 (Amiens, 1876), p. 24.\n\nMario Proth, Voyage au Pays des peintres-Salon 1876 (1876), p. 123.\n\nEmile Berg\u00e9rat, Les Chefs d\u2019Oeuvre d\u2019art \u00e1 l\u2019exposition universelle de 1878, pp. 156-157.\n\nCharles L. Duval, Les Beaux Arts \u00e1 l\u2019exposition universelle de 1878 (Paris, 1878), p. 127.\n\nDubosc de Pesquidoux, L\u2019Art dans les deux mondes, exposition universelle (Paris, 1881), p. 82.\n\nPaul Mantz, L\u2019Art moderne \u00e1 l\u2019exposition universelle de 1878 (Paris, 1879), p. 31.\n\nMario Proth, Les Artistes francais \u00e1 l\u2019 exposition universelle de 1878, p. 56.\n\nAry Renan, Gustave Moreau (Paris, 1900), p. 88ff, 89 (ill.).\n\nGustave Larroument, Notice historique sur Gustave Moreau (Paris, 1901), pp. 15, 59.\n\nG. Desvallieres, introduction, L\u2019Oeuvre de Gustave Moreau, Mus\u00e9e National Gustave Moreau (Paris, 1906), no. 12 (ill.).\n\nLeon Deshairs, Gustave Moreau (Paris, 1913), pp. 67-68, pl. 24.\n\nMus\u00e9e Gustave Moreau, Catalgoue Sommaire des Peintures, Dessins, Cartons et Aquarelles Expos\u00e9s Dans Les Galeries du Mus\u00e9e Gustave Moreau (Paris, 1926), p. 8.\n\nJacques Leth\u00e8ve, Daily Life of French Artists in teh Nineteenth Century, trans. by Hilary E. Paddon (Washington, 1968), p. 88.\n\nRichard Brettell, French Salon Artists, 1800-1900 (Chicago, 1987), pp. 102 (det. ill.), 103, 104 (ill.), 119. \n\nChristie\u2019s, London, 19th Century Continental Pictures, Watercolors and Drawings, June 16, 1995, under lot 131.\n\nSuzanne Folds McCullagh, \u201c \u2018A Lasting Monument\u2019: The Regenstein Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 26, 1 (2000), p. 13.\n\nJay A. Clarke, \u201cHercules and the Lernaean Hydra, c. 1876,\u201d Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 26, 1 (2000), pp. 76-77, cat. 33, fig. 26.\n\nJames Rondeau, ed., Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the collection (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2025), 69 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Paris, Salon, 1876, cat. 1505.\n\nParis, Exposition Universelle Internationale, 1878, Groupe I, Classe I, cat. 656.\n\nParis, Galerie Georges Petit, Gustave Moreau, 1906, cat. 75.\n\nLawrence University of Kansas, Profiles and Perspectives in 19th Century French Art, January 14-February 26, 1958, cat. 18.\n\nNew York, The Museum of Modern Art, Odilon Redon-Gustave Moreau-Rodolphe Bresdin, December 4, 1961-February 4, 1962, cat. 178 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, March 2-April 15, 1962.\n\nThe Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Past Rediscovered: French 19th Century Painting, July 1-September, 1969, cat. 62.\n\nLos Angeles County Museum of Art, Gustave Moreau, July 23-September 1, 1974, cat. 50 (ill.), traveled to San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor, September 14-November 11, 1974. \n\nKunsthaus Z\u00fcrich, Gustave Moreau Symboliste, March 14-May 25, 1986, cat. 45 (ill.).\n\nFlorence, Palzzo Vecchio, Gustave Moreau, 1826-1898, 1989, cat. 22 (ill.), traveled to Ferrara, Galleria civica d\u2019Arte moderna, Palazzo dei diamanti, 1989.\n\nHeerlen, Stadsfalerij, Gustave Moreau, 1991, no cat. no.\n\nMexico City, Centro Cultural\/Arte Contempor\u00e1neo, Gustave Moreau sur legado, 1994-95, no cat. no. \n\nTokyo, National Museum of Western Art, Gustave Moreau, March 21-May 14, 1995, cat. 23 (ill.), traveled to Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, May 23-July 9.\n\nRome, Accademia di Francia a Roma, Villa Medici, Gustave Moreau e l\u2019Italia, 1996, no cat. no.\n\nParis, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Gustave Moreau, 1998-1999, cat. 58 (ill.), traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, October-April 1999 and New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 1999-September 1999.","provenance_text":"Sold by the artist to Louis Mante (1857-1939), Marseille on July 26, 1887 for 30,000 francs; by descent to his heir, Juliette Mante (died 1956), Marseille, his widow retaining custody; Mante sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, November 28, 1956, lot 6 (ill.). Richard L. Feigen, Chicago and New York by 1961 [see New York 1961]. Jacques Seligmann, New York. Mrs. Eugene A. Davidson, Chicago by 1964; given to the Art Institute, 1964.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":null,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":21.1904,"color":{"h":39,"l":67,"s":38,"percentage":0.0034171511698861115,"population":28},"latitude":41.8798181462594,"longitude":-87.6232996210455,"latlon":"41.879818146259,-87.623299621046","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 223","gallery_id":2147483606,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":35824,"artist_title":"Gustave Moreau","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[35824],"artist_titles":["Gustave Moreau"],"category_ids":["PC-10","PC-834"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe","Halloween"],"term_titles":["oil on canvas","nineteenth century","oil painting","oil paint (paint)","mythology","19th century","painting techniques","painting","painting","paint","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","french","mythological figures","monsters","snake","death","nudes","mountain","mountains","Heracles","sun","men","women","weapons","arrow","rocks","danger","skulls","plaid","painting","european painting","painting (image making)","canvas","circles","mysteries\/fantasies","landscapes"],"style_id":"TM-15636","style_title":"nineteenth century","alt_style_ids":["TM-13203"],"style_ids":["TM-15636","TM-13203"],"style_titles":["nineteenth century","19th century"],"classification_id":"TM-66","classification_title":"oil on canvas","alt_classification_ids":["TM-10387","TM-78","TM-14976","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-66","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-14976","TM-9","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["oil on canvas","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","french","painting","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8766","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12704","TM-12263","TM-14970","TM-12097","TM-8649","TM-14169","TM-12351","TM-12705","TM-13682","TM-10121","TM-8735","TM-12304","TM-15328","TM-12407","TM-14391","TM-12122","TM-10240","TM-8803","TM-10184","TM-8657"],"subject_ids":["TM-8766","TM-12704","TM-12263","TM-14970","TM-12097","TM-8649","TM-14169","TM-12351","TM-12705","TM-13682","TM-10121","TM-8735","TM-12304","TM-15328","TM-12407","TM-14391","TM-12122","TM-10240","TM-8803","TM-10184","TM-8657"],"subject_titles":["mythology","mythological figures","monsters","snake","death","nudes","mountain","mountains","Heracles","sun","men","women","weapons","arrow","rocks","danger","skulls","plaid","circles","mysteries\/fantasies","landscapes"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-13502","TM-2577","TM-3124"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","painting","paint","canvas"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-14210","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Halloween"],"image_id":"2ae64c8a-266d-470a-a25a-c83127564636","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["5f8c8bcd-e7a1-d43d-ca8f-bfef675879b7"],"sound_ids":["5f8c8bcd-e7a1-d43d-ca8f-bfef675879b7"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1964.231"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra"],"weight":25416,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-06-17T12:07:44-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-27T15:12:20-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-01T23:15:47-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}