Gustave Moreau

Moreau's jewel-encrusted mythological canvases—Salome, Galatea, Jupiter and Semele—are the apotheosis of late Symbolist painting, combining microscopic detail with hallucinatory color. A beloved teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts whose students included Matisse and Rouault, he left his studio as a museum. His works are rare at auction but command significant prices.