Les Métamorphoses 1929

Jean Hugo, of the well-known Hugo family, made this painting, titled Les Métamorphoses, during the 20th century with an unknown medium. Hugo pulls from the classical myths of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, where humans are turned into animals, plants, and elements. His painting explores transformation, and can be interpreted through the lenses of gender and identity. Note the androgynous figures who are caught between states of being; a statue with arms uplifted in an act of transformation, and a human-animal hybrid reminiscent of ancient mythical creatures. The sleeping figure seems at peace with his fragmented stone form, and offers us a moment to consider the relationship between change and acceptance. Do we see these metamorphoses as acts of violence or liberation? Perhaps Hugo suggests they are both. As we stand here, we are invited to contemplate our own capacity for change, and the myriad ways in which we, too, are constantly being transformed.