About this artwork

Puvis de Chavannes’s muted palette and flat, decorative forms had an important influence on French symbolism in the late 1880s and 1890s. This is a version of La Vigilance (Vigilance) which was one of four decorative panels commissioned by the writer and sculptor Claude Vignon, alias Noémie Cadiot, for her house at 148 rue de la Tour in Paris. The mural scheme featured four allegorical figures intended to represent the principal elements of artistic creation: Vigilance, Meditation, History and Fantasy. The flame, which Vigilance holds aloft against a new dawn, symbolises the moment of artistic inspiration.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
  • title:
    Vigilance
  • date created:
    Dated 1867
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    106.00 x 53.20 cm; Framed: 124.20 x 71.80 x 7.00 cm / 13.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased 1929
  • accession number:
    NG 1739
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • glossary:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes