Our Souls, in Languorous Gestures (1898, published 1899): Art, History and Details

Our Souls, in Languorous Gestures (1898, published 1899) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Maurice Denis (French, 1870–1943).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Women in domestic interiors and protected gardens provided the subject matter for Denis’s portfolio of 12 color lithographs entitled Love. The feminine associations with the interior illustrated in Our Souls, in Slight Gestures are underscored by the ruffled lampshade, roses, and arabesques on the piano shawl. Throughout the 19th century, women played music, with few exceptions, at home. Within these confines, their accomplishments were relegated to that of the amateur, performing for friends but not for money or public acclaim.

Object facts

• Title: Our Souls, in Languorous Gestures
• Date: 1898, published 1899
• Creator attribution: Maurice Denis (French, 1870–1943)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: color lithograph
• Dimensions: Image: 28.3 x 40.1 cm (11 1/8 x 15 13/16 in.); Sheet: 40.5 x 53.4 cm (15 15/16 x 21 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1998.39

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.