Pavot 1896

Maurice Pillard Verneuil created this print, titled "Pavot," featuring stylized poppies. The poppy, a flower historically linked to sleep and oblivion, takes center stage here. Consider how the poppy has been a recurring motif throughout art history. In ancient Greece, it was associated with Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Morpheus, the god of dreams. Even further back in time, traces of the poppy have been found in archeological sites dating back to the Neolithic era, used for both ritual and practical uses. Here, in Verneuil’s hands, the poppy is not just a symbol of sleep but also of artistic and cultural memory. We see how it has been transformed, idealized into an emblem that speaks to both the beauty and the mystery of the natural world. The cyclical nature of life and death, sleep and wakefulness, is echoed in the persistent recurrence of the poppy across epochs. Its continuous presence is a reminder of our collective, subconscious connection to the past.