Oil on canvas, *Crossing the Styx* by Gaston HOFFMANN
Oil on canvas, *Crossing the Styx* by Gaston HOFFMANN
Prix sur demande / prices on request
HOFFMANN Gaston
Born on January 12, 1883 in Paris Died in Metz in 1977
His mother was from Lorraine; he lived in Metz and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1902, where he was a student of Léon Bonnat and Luc-Olivier Merson; at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefebvre (for engraving) and T. Robert-Fleury, and at the Beaux-Arts in Nancy, where he studied under Jules Larcher.
In 1918, G. Hoffmann collaborated with Charles Schneider, a friend he had met at the Beaux-Arts, whose glassworks in Épinay-sur-Seine flourished alongside the École de Nancy and enjoyed great success in the 1920s.
In 1922–1923, G. Hoffmann worked for the Manufacture de Sèvre. That same year, he created the poster for the film Vidocq.
In 1925, the artist painted the murals for the Kerhulu restaurant in Quebec City: Hunger and Thirst. These works are now housed at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, thanks to a donation by Jean Piché in 1983.
He would go on to become a drawing instructor for the City of Paris.
He taught drawing and decorative composition at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec from 1924 to 1926.
Further information
| Dimensions | 114 × 96 cm |
|---|
The painting, titled *The Crossing of the Styx*, depicts a scene from Greek mythology featuring the River Styx, the mythical passage to the realm of the dead. Hoffmann creates a world that is both dramatic and poetic, blending human characters with supernatural figures.
At the center of the composition, an arched bridge connects two banks, serving as a symbolic passage between the world of the living and that of the dead. On this bridge and on the water below, mythical figures move in a dynamic flow: some descend toward the boats, while others seem to float in the air, adding a sense of movement and vertigo. The boat sailing on the Styx carries several figures, emphasizing the collective and ritualistic nature of this funeral journey.
