André Masson and the myth of Baucis and Philemon

André Masson and the myth of Baucis and Philemon

We can find the Greek myth Baucis and Philemon narrated by La Fontaine and in Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book VIII. It tells the story of an elderly couple who were the only ones in the whole town to welcome two strangers seeking shelter into their home. Their guests were actually Zeus and his son Hermes who had decided to pose as ordinary men to try human hospitality for themselves.

The elderly couple was very poor, but did not hesitate to offer their guests their humble abode to spend the night, warm up, and have a meal. They offered everything they had. As the evening progressed, Philemon realised that no matter how much wine was poured into the glasses, the jug never emptied. This is when they realised that they had not welcomed ordinary humans into their home, and apologised for not being able to entertain their guests as they deserved.

When they realised who the two men were, Baucis, the elderly wife, runs to offer them a goose, the only live animal they had. The gods tell the couple their identities and the purpose of their visit. Contrary to what Baucis and Philemon believed, they were grateful for the welcome they had received.

The gods asked the couple to accompany them to the mountains, from where they could see how water had flooded and destroyed all the houses in the town, all except for the elderly couple’s humble cabin, which they turned into a beautiful temple. To thank them for their kindness, the gods also offered to grant their greatest wishes. The couple asked to become the guardians and priests of the temple in their honour. They said that when their time came, they wanted to be allowed to leave the mortal world together so they did not have to live without each other for even a single day.

The gods agreed, and after years of servitude in the temple, one day Baucis and Philemon both turned into robust trees that were to stay together for all eternity.

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+ The myth in the work

As well as being a genre par excellence within painting throughout history, mythology is a recurring theme in the work of André Masson, as it is for many surrealist artists, and this is the main theme of the work Philemon et Baucis (“Philemon and Baucis”). Despite his disassociation with the surrealist movement, Masson is influenced by what interests him about it. He therefore creates a work full of points of reference, such as surrealism, expressionism, tachisme and material art, alongside his own language and identity.