“Remember that a painting – before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or an anecdote of some sort – is essentially a flat surface covered with colors, put together in a certain order”
M aurice Denis’ depictions of his wife Marthe occupy the pinnacle of the artist’s preoccupation with spirituality in art and represent his most accomplished portraits. Denis met Marthe Meurier, the love of his life, in 1891, and the couple were married in 1893. They celebrated their honeymoon in a house rented in the seaside Breton town of Perros-Guirec—a place to which they would return—its interior becoming the artist’s setting for a series of layered portraits depicting Marthe (see figs. 1 and 2). Flat, patterned surfaces, firm yet organic lines of contour, and subtle color harmonies—in short, all the hallmarks of Nabi style—coincide in the present work.
Right: Fig. 2 (above right) Maurice Denis, Sancta Martha, 1893, sold: Christie’s, Paris, 20 October 2023, lot 108 for $733,954.
The flat planes of bold color filling the composition reflect Denis’ revolutionary creative dictum: “Remember that a painting – before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or an anecdote of some sort – is essentially a flat surface covered with colors, put together in a certain order” (quoted in John Golding, Visions of the Modern, Los Angeles, 1994, p. 29). Originally formulated by the artist in 1890, this pioneering concept arguably anticipated the move towards abstraction which was to become such a fundamental aspect of early twentieth-century painting, whilst, more immediately, serving as a source of inspiration for other artists associated with the Nabis group.
Nicknamed the “Nabi of the beautiful icons” by his friends (each Nabis member had a codename of sorts), Denis was a fervent Catholic and his religious beliefs underpinned his oeuvre. He and his fellow Nabis co-founders Paul Sérusier and Paul Ranson saw an essential connection between their artistic ideas and their religious or theosophical beliefs, and tended to draw their subjects from myth, religion and tradition. Perhaps inspired by his new wife’s first name, around this t.mes , Denis reread the parable of Jesus Christ's visit to the house of Martha and Mary in Bethany. According to Luke, Martha works hard to welcome Jesus to her home. Her sister, Mary, simply sits at his feet and listens. In their own ways, both Mary and Martha serve, yet Mary understands the priority and necessity of choosing to abide in Christ.
In the present painting, Marthe (as Martha) and Mary are seen in the foreground while a third figure reaches up to a shelf in the kitchen behind them. Luminous bands of color filter through the curtains in the background, lending a serene and spiritual atmosphere to the entire composition. The women evince a subtle ethereality in their demure postures and downcast gazes, evoking the icon painting which proved a fertile source of inspiration for the artist and his peers. Coming to auction for the first t.mes in almost a hundred years, Denis’ Marthe et Marie (Intérieur) is an exceptional example of pure Nabi painting.
