The artist’s muse is an enigmatic entity. There is much curiosity about the artist as well as his muse who inspires sublime works of art, beautiful poems, and grand literature. Originally the muses were the personification of knowledge and art in ancient Greece. They were the nine daughters of Zeus who inspired mortals in pursuit of literature, music, dance and other fine arts. However, we know of many famous muses, not of divine origin, who inspired great works of art and literature.
One of the most famous muses in history is perhaps Dante’s Beatrice. Dante, the Italian poet of 13th-14th century, is immortalised by Divine Comedy, considered to be a masterpiece of world literature. As the story goes, Dante fell in love with Beatrice at the age of nine, but it was an unrequited love. It was strong enough to inspire him in his later life, and in his Divine Comedy, it was she who guides him to a vision of beatific love.
Unrequited love is not a prerequisite for being a muse. There could also be multiple muses. It is said that Picasso’s source of inspiration changed as frequently as his style of painting. His relationships were “documented” in his works of art. But it is his second wife Jacqueline Roque who could claim to have the maximum number of works based on her. In a single year, Picasso made 70 portraits of hers.
Another famous artist who found his most significant muse in his significant other half was Salvador Dali. To quote him “I name my wife: Gala, Galushka, Gradiva; Oliva, for the oval shape of her face and the colour of her skin… I also call her Lionette, because when she gets angry she roars like the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lion”. Gala was not only his muse, she also handled his paintings. Dali was so obsessed with her that he put both their names on many of his works. At home, we have our own
M F Hussain painting a series on famous Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit. He also made a film with her called Gajagamini. But Hussain had other muses as well, which include many other Bollywood stars like Tabu and Vidya Balan. Before he passed away, his muse was none other than ‘Didi’ from Bengal, Mamata Banerjee.
Talking about Bengal, we have to talk about the most famous son of the soil, Rabindranath Tagore and his life-long muse who continued to inspire him even after her death—Kadambari Devi. Kadambari was Tagore’s elder brother’s wife. Having a highly sensitive and artistic temperament, she had a tremendous influence on the young poet. He dedicated all his early works to her, and continued doing so even after her death. Her untimely death by suicide had a great impact on him. Subject to much speculation, the nature of their relationship continues to intrigue people till now. Many a book and article have been written on the subject. One of Tagore’s short stories, Nashtaneed, on which Satyajit Ray made his famous film Charulata reflects the relationship between the poet and Kadambari Devi. Art is eternal, and so is the original muse. To end, we go back to the beginning and quote the famous woman poet from ancient Greece, Sappho: “There is no place for grief in a house which serves the muse”.
The writer is a Kathak dancer based in Delhi.
mukherjee.sharmistha@gmail.com