Apollo and the Muses, 1898

In 1898, Constant Montald completed the design for the pediment of the Dutch Theatre in Ghent. This depicts a victorious Apollo Musagetus on a chariot, surrounded by the nine Muses and genii, on his way to his sanctuary on Mount Parnassus. The composition served as the basis for the mosaic decorating the tympanum of this building. The translation of this painted design into a fragmented surface is characterised by light colours that remain bright despite the urban pollution. This allegory of the liberal arts is of Italian inspiration and testifies to the study period spent in that country. It is in the spirit of symbolism, which, together with the various variants of impressionism, dominated the Belgian painting scene at the time. Montald is one of the main representatives of this symbolist art, which advocates the pictorial and sensitive transposition of the world of ideas. The scene depicted is still close to the allegorical language then in force for the decoration of official buildings, borrowing its themes from ancient mythology rather than from the poetic universe of the symbolists.