Max Moreau

'Flower Market After the Rain', Paris Boulevarde, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tram

Circa 1955

Max Leon Moreau (1902 - 1992) Moreau is a highly acclaimed artist born in Belgium. He is best known for his loosely brushed street scenes of Paris, Granada, and North Africa and for his revealing portraits of people with whom he came into contact during his many travels. Taught to paint by his father, the family moved to Paris where he made copies of paintings at the Louvre Museum. Later Moreau and his family lived in both Tunisia and Morocco before settling in Granada, Spain for the remainder of over 30 years. Following his death in 1992, his home was converted into a museum dedicated to his life and work. His paintings are internationally collected and appear at auction in major international houses. Max spent the last 30 years of his life living in his Moorish style house in Granada, which upon his death, was bequeathed to the City of Granada along with the contents of his studio and artwork. Since then the City of Granada has turned his home into a museum where visitors can see his studio and learn about his private life, as well as view galleries of his well-known paintings. The main building of the ‘Casa Museo Max Moreau’ houses an exhibition space which takes us on a journey through the artist’s most common themes: portraits, still lives, and landscapes, represented through oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings on paper. There is also a series of models for theatre productions that illustrate the artist’s interest and relationship to the scenic arts (he was involved in many productions as an actor, playwright, musician, and set designer). The building itself is an original from the region of Albayzín and is popularly known as Carmen. Does the name come from the Arabic word Karm which means vine, orchard, or garden.?The second building houses the artist’s studio, just as he left it: the easel next to the window, a piano with scores, and a collection of oriental objects. The adjoining room contains biographical information on the life of Moreau including many photographs of his travels, friendships, and family. There is also a section on his relationship to music (he composed several pieces) and a gallery of his most cherished personal belongings. The collection also aims to highlight Moreau’s relationship with Granada.