The 6 most famous artist muses

What is a muse? Originally, and according to Greek mythology, the muses were the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, and were in charge, among other things, of singing for the Olympic gods. In addition, the muses presided over thought, so artists, mathematicians, astronomers, and anyone who worked their mind in one way or another owed their inspiration to these nine deities.

Over time, the word muse began to refer, almost exclusively, to the woman who inspires the work of an artist. The term began to be frequent during Romanticism, in which the role played by characters such as Dante's Beatrice or Simonetta Vespucci, Botticelli's muse, was extolled.

Although during the romantic period the artist's relationship with his muse was idealized, it is true that these women were of great importance in the artistic production of their peers. However, it was not always a satisfactory exchange for both parties. There were some, like Camille Claudel or Jeanne Hébuterne, for whom the relationship with the artist was rather a misfortune.

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Next, we will make a short tour of 6 of the most famous muses in history and the artists they inspired.

1. Simonetta Vespucci and Sandro Botticelli

The face of this lady appears in many works of the Italian Quattrocento, since she was the muse of various artists of the time. Among them, the best known was Sandro Botticelli.

Simonetta Cattaneo, Vespucci by her marriage to Marco Vespuccio (cousin of the famous Americo) came into the world in 1453, possibly in Genoa, although her birthplace remains a source of discussion by historians of the art.

Some biographers pointed to Portovenere, in Liguria, as the place of origin, as the poet Angelo Poliziano assures. However, this latest version may simply be an arrangement to match Simonetta's birthplace with that of this town, "Venus Harbor."

Equating Vespucci with the goddess of love makes perfect sense, since the beauty of the young woman was soon admired by everyone in Florence. Not in vain, she became known as "La bella Simonetta". Giuliano de Medici himself, the brother of the great Lorenzo, dared to make her her queen in one of the tournaments that were held in the city. In those days, Sandro Boticelli had already fallen under the charms of the noble lady, and had captured her features in several of his works.

Simonetta's white face and blond hair are the ones that shine in the painting The birth of Venus, which the artist painted after the death of the young woman.

Simonetta died in April 1476, at the age of 23, apparently a victim of severe tuberculosis. All Florence mourned her death. Sforza Bettini, one of Lorenzo de Medici's agents, testifies that, during the movement of the young woman's body through the streets of Florence, her face was not covered, so that everyone could witness the unparalleled beauty of the deceased (testimony collected by Jill Berk Jiminez in his Dictionary of Artists' models).

Botticelli's obsession with her seems to be confirmed not only by the multitude of times that he captured her in her works, but also by the fact that he left as her last wish that, upon her death, her body will be buried in the church of Ognisanti, in Florence, at the foot of the tomb of her muse.

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2. Anna Maria Dali and Salvador Dali

On this occasion, we have preferred to distance ourselves from the Gala-Dalí relationship and focus on her most unknown muse, who is none other than her sister Anna María.

Anna María Dalí (1908-1989) was the first muse of the great painter, as well as her most faithful confidante, until the arrival of Gala. The artist's relationship with her sister was very close, and he immortalized her on canvases as important as girl at the window (1925), currently preserved in the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid. Precisely this museum published on its Facebook, in January 2020, the statement that Anna María made for an interview in 1949: "The portraits of me that my brother painted at this time are countless. Many of them were mere studies of loops and an always bare shoulder. He painted patiently and tirelessly, and I never tired of posing for him, for I have never been bored by remaining still and silent."

The sympathy and affection that the brothers felt were cut short when the painter met Helena Ivánovna Diakonova (Gala), wife at that time of the surrealist artist Paul Éluard.

Very soon, the newcomer began to influence the young Dalí and made him gradually distance himself from his family. Also from Anna Maria.

The definitive break came when, in one of his works, Dalí wrote the phrase: "Sometimes I spit for pleasure on my mother's portrait". His father, shocked, kicked him out of the house. Since then, a fierce enmity has developed between Salvador and his family. It is not known for sure what happened, and if, indeed, Gala's influence was decisive in the process of distancing (although everything points to yes). For her part, Anna María, jealous of Gala and disappointed with her brother, never spoke to her again.

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3. Jeanne Hebuterne and Amedeo Modigliani

Modigliani portrayed the sweet and shy Jeanne in many of his paintings. In fact, in most of the works of the painter's last years, it is Jeanne who appears, with her reddish hair falling over her back and her striking blue eyes fixed on the viewer. The young woman has gone down in history not only for being Modigliani's most important muse, but also for being his great love..

Jeanne Hébuterne was born in 1898 in Meaux, a provincial town, but her family soon moved to the capital, Paris. There, Jeanne's brother, André, begins to study painting. Soon, the girl also feels attracted to the artistic world and enters the Académie Colarossi, an institution that, as André tells her parents, has an impeccable reputation. According to some sources, she is in the Café the roundabout, in which the students of the academy meet in the afternoons, where Amedeo Modigliani meets Jeanne. He is immediately attracted by the naive and somewhat childish beauty of the young woman, who at that time is only 19 years old.

Her love was eminently tragic and, why not say it, also quite toxic.. Modigliani seems to recover a certain serenity in the company of Jeanne (he had a reputation as an alcoholic, womanizer and addicted to cocaine), but, in return, she dwarfs herself and stoically endures his outbursts of anger and jealousy. When, in January 1920, the painter dies of persistent tuberculosis, Jeanne can't stand the void and throws herself out of her bedroom window. She had not yet turned 22 and she was eight months pregnant.

Jeanne Hébuterne has gone down in history as the devoted muse and lover of Amedeo Modigliani, but it is necessary to remember that she also dedicated herself to painting. Unfortunately, her premature death deprived us of her work, since she did not have time to perfect her style or leave us a large pictorial corpus. All of this leaves us with the following question: What would have happened to her career if it weren't for this ending?

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4. Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin

The unfairly silenced Camille Claudel entered Rodin's workshop when she was only 19 years old. Despite her youth, the young she promised, and soon the teacher he was fascinated by her talent. Soon, Camille became, in addition to her student, her muse and her lover. Rodin even promised her that he would marry her, after leaving her then-wife, Rose Bouret. It is well known that Rodin neither abandoned his wife nor married Camille.

Perhaps tired of waiting, Camille distances herself from her teacher and begins to exhibit on her own.. However, already at that time she begins to show a certain nervous affection, which with the years she only increases. In 1913, her brother admitted her to a mental hospital near Paris, where she remained for three decades, forgotten by all, until her death in 1943.

Currently, the figure of this extraordinary sculptress is being recovered, which she equaled (or even, according to some, surpassed) her teacher. Just remember some of her most famous works, such as the beautiful The Great Waltz, which represents a couple immersed in a sensual dance. The artist presented the work at the French National Salon of Fine Arts in 1893 and, despite being a magnificent sculpture, it was harshly criticized for its excessive and erotic realism.

Claudel was a passionate artist and devoted to her art, which did not receive the attention it deserved from the public of the time. She lived overshadowed by her teacher and lover, Auguste Rodin, and it wasn't until recently that her work began to be recognized.

5. Julia Espin and Gustavo Adolfo Becquer

The rhymes de Bécquer are one of the most important works of Romanticism in the Spanish language. Collected and published in 1871, they represent the creative peak of this great Spanish poet. But Do these love poems have a recipient?

Well, it seems that they do, and that recipient (recipient, in this case) was none other than Julia Espín, an opera singer with a short but brilliant career. According to Jesús Rubio, professor of Spanish literature, in his work Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and Julia Espín: Julia's albums, his first meeting with the singer inspired the poet his Rhyme XVI, the one that begins like this:

If by rocking the blue bells

from your balcony,

Do you think that sighing the wind passes

Gossip,

He knows that, hidden among the green leaves,

I sigh.

This meeting, while Julia was on her balcony, would be the first of many others, since Bécquer managed to enter the gathering that was held at the Espín house. It seems that the poet's love was unrequited or, if it was, Julia's family or the interested party herself had other expectations in this regard. Julia Espín married in 1873 with the politician Benigno Quiroga y López Ballesteros. Bécquer had died three years earlier, in 1870.

6. Beatrice and Dante Alighieri

This is perhaps one of the most famous and admired platonic relationships of all time, recorded over and over again in countless works of art: the love of the poet Dante Alighieri and Beatriz, the young woman with whom, as he himself recounts, he fell in love at the age of 9 and whom he saw again later, when she was 18 years old.

We know little about the lady in question. Some authors maintain that she was simply an invention of Dante to give free rein to his poetry. Others, however, identify her with Beatriz "Bice", daughter of Folco Portinari, a family that lived very close to Dante's house, in Florence. This lady would be, of all the registers of Florentine "Beatrices" close to the poet, the one that would best fit the Dantesque Beatrice. Bice Portinari died at a very young age (23 years old), possibly from childbirth. After her death, Dante was terribly devastated, and turned the deceased into his personal angel., the muse that would guide his pen from now on.

However, it could also be, as we have already commented, that Beatriz was just an invention to justify his poetry, as was usual among the poets of the time. This fact is corroborated by the very name of the muse, since Beatriz means, in Latin, blessedof her, a name that has an evident connection with the heavenly. In that case, Dante's neighbor named Bice would just be an unimportant anecdote.

Anyway; Whether or not Beatrice existed, it is obvious the influence that her image had on the work of the Florentine poet, especially in his new life and in his Divine Comedy. In the first, the poet describes his feelings for the young woman, in a lofty and passionate style (the sweet still new, as it was called by Francesco De Sanctis in the 19th century). The sonnets contained in this work, dedicated to her muse, present the concept of donna angelicata (angelic woman), which was so in vogue among the poets of the time. In other words, Beatriz is beyond the earthly, since her essence belongs to the heavenly, to the divine, and no other woman can satisfy the poet. The new life she is, thus, the height of platonic love and the summit of courtly love of previous centuries.

And so that the divine essence of Beatriz is clear, in the Divine Comedy It is she herself who guides her beloved through Paradise, she converted, after her premature death, into a kind of angel-guide. It could not be otherwise.