The indeterminately mythological figures that populate this peaceful landscape are intended to evoke a poetic conception of the artistic past. The figures in the center personify the three plastic arts: architecture, painting, and sculpture. They are surrounded by the nine muses of Classical antiquity.<\/p>\n
The scene\u2019s subdued, chalky colors and overall flatness recall Roman wall paintings. Indeed, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes was the leading muralist in France when he first displayed this painting at the 1884 Salon, a state-sponsored art exhibition; this canvas is itself a smaller version of a mural he made for the stairway of the Mus\u00e9e des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France. That work was one of the inspirations for Georges Seurat\u2019s<\/a> mural-sized painting A Sunday on la Grande Jatte\u20141884<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"93 \u00d7 231 cm (36 7\/16 \u00d7 90 15\/16 in.); Framed: 124.5 \u00d7 243.8 \u00d7 19.1 cm (49 \u00d7 96 \u00d7 7 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":231,"height":93,"diameter":null,"clarification":null},{"depth":19,"width":243,"height":124,"diameter":null,"clarification":"Framed"}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Inscribed lower left: P. Puvis de Chavannes","credit_line":"Potter Palmer Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Aim\u00e9e Brown-Price, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes vol. 2: Catalogue Raisonne of the Painted Work (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2010), 280\u201381 pl. 127, 182 cat. 304.\n\nMaryanne Stevens, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery Global; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023), 32 cat. 1, 66, 67-68 (ill).","exhibition_history":"London, National Gallery, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, Mar. 25 - Aug. 13, 2023, cat. 1; Moscow, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Sep. 25, 2023 - Jan. 29, 2024 [London only].","provenance_text":"Durand-Ruel, New York and Paris, by 1890 [this and the following according to Durand-Ruel, stock book, Potter Palmer: \"Tableaux achet\u00e9s \u00e0 Durand-Ruel, New York,\" no. 965\/674; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Potter Palmer and Bertha Honor\u00e9 Palmer (died 1918), Chicago, March 1, 1890 [letter from Durand-Ruel to W.M.R. French, Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 23, 1890; copy in curatorial object file]; by descent to their sons, Honor\u00e9 and Potter Palmer, Jr.; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":14,"fiscal_year":1922,"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":26.7915,"color":{"h":56,"l":46,"s":19,"percentage":0.4451622053741813,"population":1381},"latitude":41.8795824407593,"longitude":-87.6226739409656,"latlon":"41.879582440759,-87.622673940966","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 245","gallery_id":2147479701,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Painting and Sculpture of Europe","department_id":"PC-10","artist_id":36292,"artist_title":"Pierre Puvis de Chavannes","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[36292],"artist_titles":["Pierre Puvis de Chavannes"],"category_ids":["PC-10"],"category_titles":["Painting and Sculpture of Europe"],"term_titles":["painting","nineteenth century","oil painting","landscapes","oil paint (paint)","plaid","19th century","painting techniques","painting (image making)","painting","painting","paint","canvas","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","french","nudes","women","boys","children","woman","trees","lake","water","rocks","bushes","nature","flowers","reflections","angels","mythical","mythological figures","poetry","architechture","architecture","architecture","painting","sculpture","european painting","mysteries\/fantasies"],"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-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-14976","TM-54"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-10387","TM-78","TM-66","TM-14976","TM-54"],"classification_titles":["painting","paint","oil paintings (visual works)","oil on canvas","french","european painting"],"subject_id":"TM-8657","alt_subject_ids":["TM-10240","TM-8649","TM-8735","TM-8853","TM-10118","TM-15749","TM-11205","TM-14517","TM-8681","TM-12407","TM-15367","TM-12261","TM-10482","TM-12891","TM-12268","TM-15159","TM-12704","TM-12502","TM-15039","TM-12085","TM-13982","TM-12737","TM-14541","TM-10184"],"subject_ids":["TM-8657","TM-10240","TM-8649","TM-8735","TM-8853","TM-10118","TM-15749","TM-11205","TM-14517","TM-8681","TM-12407","TM-15367","TM-12261","TM-10482","TM-12891","TM-12268","TM-15159","TM-12704","TM-12502","TM-15039","TM-12085","TM-13982","TM-12737","TM-14541","TM-10184"],"subject_titles":["landscapes","plaid","nudes","women","boys","children","woman","trees","lake","water","rocks","bushes","nature","flowers","reflections","angels","mythical","mythological figures","poetry","architechture","architecture","architecture","painting","sculpture","mysteries\/fantasies"],"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-3891","TM-14210"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3971","TM-3891","TM-14210"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting techniques","painting (image making)","painting"],"theme_titles":[],"image_id":"94bfb508-31cc-7c9f-63a9-5478c826129a","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["531dfabd-3cf2-f0fe-7d10-2543fcf9d575"],"sound_ids":["531dfabd-3cf2-f0fe-7d10-2543fcf9d575"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1922.445"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Sacred Grove, Beloved of the Arts and the Muses"],"weight":11230,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-21T12:53:21-05:00","updated_at":"2026-09-25T12:59:23-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-26T14:52:58-05:00"},"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. 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