Dead Poet Carried by a Centaur

Dead Poet Carried by a Centaur is a c. 1890 watercolour by Gustave Moreau, produced shortly after the death of his companion Alexandrine Dureux and representing a reflection on the duality of man and the fate reserved for artists. It is now in the Musée national Gustave Moreau, in Paris.

History
This watercolor is generally dated to around 1890. It was produced shortly after the death of Alexandrine Dureux. André Breton, who was an admirer of Gustave Moreau, owned a copy of this work with the title Centaur and Nymph.

Interpretation
Moreau represents here one of his favorite subjects, the poet. But this poet is anonymous, he is no longer the Orpheus of his painting of 1865 or even Sappho. It is in fact a reflection on the duality of human nature, with the poet symbolizing the spiritual part and the centaur the material part. It is also a pessimistic reflection on the fate reserved for artists; thus, as Ary Renan: "How many perished without funeral at the bottom of the solitary ravines. Certainly, it happens that a charitable centaur takes in the victim and thinks, in his simple heart, that the man was insane; but oblivion, like still water, buries most of them."

Nature is empathetic here since the sun sets at the same time as the poet dies.