Maurice DENIS 1870-1943

Born in Granville, Normandy, on 25 November 1870, he spent most of his life in Saint‑Germain‑en‑Laye, Île‑de‑France, before dying in Paris on 13 November 1943.

Trained at the Lycée Condorcet, the Académie Julian and briefly at the École des Beaux‑Arts, he met in the late 1880s young artists such as Paul Sérusier, Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, with whom he founded the group of the Nabis and became one of its theorists.

In 1890, in Art et Critique, he published the famous formula that sums up his pictorial thought and that would mark the debate on modernity:

“Remember that a painting, before being a war‑horse, a nude woman or any anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.”

His work evolved from synthetic symbolism (flat planes of colour, stylization) toward a renewed classicism and a substantial decorative output:

mural panels, stained‑glass windows, illustrations, and church decorations. Recurring themes include spirituality, family, landscapes, and liturgy.

After 1914 he bought and restored a priory in Saint‑Germain‑en‑Laye that would later become the Musée Maurice‑Denis,a conservatory of his work and a memorial site for the Nabi movement. He also distinguished himself as an engraver and illustrator, publishing numerous art books.

As a critic, art historian and teacher, Maurice Denis played a major role in the renewal of decorative painting and religious art at the beginning of the 20th century. He thus produced a multifaceted body of work that links decoration, theoretical writing and pictorial practice.