Sexe, décadence, hypocrisie : le diable est en chacun de nous

Félicien Rops is a major 19th-century figure representing sex, hypocrisy, and the decadence of his era, embodying Evil and the Devil in his art.

• Ultra-rich body of work filled with eroticism and occultism • Infused with irony and humor • Fascinated by the morbid, the strange, and eroticism

Having a personal museum in Belgium demonstrates the importance of his artistic and cultural legacy.

The exhibition "The Devil's Album: The Temptations of Félicien Rops" at the Namur museum explores the satanic dimension of his work until March 9, 2025.

Born July 7, 1833 in Namur, an only child of cloth merchants, Rops grew up in an affluent and cultured household with private tutors and Jesuit education.

• Teachers notice his tendency to let fantasies dominate his thinking • Caricatures his masters in his school notebooks • Demonstrates precocious drawing ability

In 1851, he moves to Brussels to study law but quickly abandons it for drawing, working for satirical newspapers like Le Crocodile and Uylenspiegel.

His work combines caustic humor and sharp social criticism of the bourgeoisie, characterized by "Zwans," a peculiar Belgian wit capable of deceiving the public.

In 1857, Rops marries Charlotte Polet de Faveaux and lives as a gentleman in the countryside, passionate about drawing, botany, and rowing.

• With Charlotte, he has two children: Paul and Juliette • Juliette's death at age 5 plunges Rops into deep sorrow • This loss profoundly marks his life and art

From the 1860s onward, Rops maintains a relationship with two sisters, Aurélie and Léontine Duluc, barely past adolescence, having a child with each and forming a "throuple."

Charlotte obtains separation of property in 1875. The Duluc sisters become his companions and artistic collaborators, opening a fashion house with him, and live together for 25 years until his death.

In 1864, Rops meets Charles Baudelaire, who becomes a friend and calls him "the greatest Belgian artist of his time."

• Painter, draftsman, and illustrator • Engraver specializing in intaglio • Pioneer of comic art in Belgium • Associated with the Symbolist movement

Creates frontispieces for Baudelaire (Les Épaves), Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Théophile Gautier, Mallarmé, and Paul Verlaine, significantly contributing to his fame.

Illustrates the second edition of Diaboliques in 1874, Barbey d'Aurevilly's short story collection. Exhibits at the Salon des Vingt in Brussels, fascinating and outraging audiences with his creations.

In 1878, Rops creates a major work based on the legend of Saint Anthony, a 3rd-4th century Egyptian hermit tormented by diabolical visions.

• The Temptation of Saint Anthony has inspired artists from the Renaissance to today • Painters and artists influenced: Prosper Mérimée, Gustave Flaubert, Octave Mirbeau, Hieronymus Bosch, Paul Cézanne, David Teniers, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dalí

A naked red-haired woman is crucified, crowned with flowers, staring insolently at Saint Anthony, while the saint reduced to a bag of bones resists. The red devil replaces Christ and changes INRI to EROS on the cross.

Rops denies any offense to Christian religion. Saint Anthony does not yield to the devil's temptations, who remains responsible for the spectacle. Eroticism illustrates the suffering of passionate love, not blasphemy.

In 1878, Rops creates "Pornocratès or The Woman with the Pig," depicting a half-naked woman, likely a prostitute, led by a pig with a golden tail.

• The pig represents base instincts and blind desire • The blindfolded woman embodies modernity trampling academia • Half-naked, half-dressed, she parades shamelessly over frozen classical arts

The goddess of modernity crushes academic sculpture, music, poetry, and painting with her heels, asserting her triumph over classicism.

While angels lament the sacrilege, Rops laughs heartily, revealing through humor and irony the flaws of society, without creating hollow pornography.

Between 1878 and 1881, Rops creates 114 drawings titled "One Hundred Light Sketches Without Pretension to Delight Honest People," forming a true human comedy of 19th-century society.

• Vision of amorous customs and latent eroticism • All social classes: clergy, bourgeoisie, teachers, soldiers, actors • Authentic representation of women without embellishment or mythologizing

Rops draws women as they are, marked by life, from prostitute to absinthe drinker, without seeking to beautify their bodies as was customary in 19th-century Salon exhibitions.

• Prolific traveler exhibiting at the Salon des Vingt in Brussels • Multiplies friendships and female conquests • Writes countless letters to his mistresses • Edgar Degas declares: "This man writes even better than he engraves"

Conceived alongside the One Hundred Light Sketches between 1878 and 1881, "The Devil's Album" is a satanic and erotic version of the project, representing Rops's obsessions with Evil.

• Represents human hypocrisy and moral corruption • Metaphor for desire and transgression • Lives within human society, revealing the perversions of men • Freudian reference: struggle of inner impulses

Félicien Rops disperses his drawings, probably because publishers found the project unimpressive. Most works remain unknown, with only a few sketches and descriptions surviving.

This unrealized project remains precious testimony to Rops's obsessions and strengthens the aura of mystery surrounding his work. Many works remain conceptual while others were indeed realized.

Between 1882 and 1883, Rops creates "The Satanic Works," a set of drawings, watercolors, sketches, and engravings inspired by Baudelaire's poetry.

• Visual account of a woman possessed physically and psychically by Satan • Inverted Stations of the Cross in twelve stages where the Devil triumphs • Summary of satanic influence on "feminine nervousness"

• Satan sows discord over Paris with wicked women • The Devil carries the woman through the air • Takes her to his diabolical temple • Sacrifices her on an altar • Final Calvary where Satan triumphs

Rops settles in Essonnes near Paris, continuing to work despite increasing health problems. He dies on August 23, 1898, leaving a rich body of work and a complex artistic legacy.

Despite his reputation as a scandalous artist, Félicien Rops remains a remarkable man full of paradoxes, whose complex work transcends the scandalous eroticism and Satanism.

• Beyond Satanism and eroticism, Rops also produces landscapes, rural figures, and workers • Marked realism in his depictions of elderly people • Varied engravings not limited to his dark themes

Fascinated by woman, love, and death, Rops was excessive but had the merit of pushing the visual representation of his inner obsessions without conceding to bourgeois and religious sensibilities.

• Constant challenge to conventions of his era • Poetic shift and humor as major components of his work • Important figure in 19th-century art history • Continued influence on understanding modern art