PYGMALION AND GALATEA /1890 / by JEAN-LÉON GÉRÔME

This painting represents the scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion, a sculptor, fell in love with a statue he had made. His love so profound is reciprocated; in the myth, Aphrodite brings the statue to life and turns her into the woman Galatea.

Gérôme based his composition around the very moment that Galatea, the statue, comes to life and rises from her state as a piece of marble. Pygmalion is embracing her as she begins to move, capturing this dramatic moment of transformation.

This painting impressively contrasted cold, white marble at the bottom against warm, natural tones in the living figures of the statue. Light emphasizes the transformation of Galatea from a lifeless statue to a more dynamic living being.

Galatea’s transformation from a statue to a living, breathing woman is symbolic of the powers of art and love. In Gérôme’s version of the painting, he emphasizes the theme of creation and the blurring of boundaries between art and reality.