The representation of the painting in the tale “Le Chef-D’oeuvre Inconnu” from the Honoré de Balzac

Abstract

This article is an attempt to analyze the relationship between literature and painting, seeking to understand the process of construction of the narrative and the space of representation of painting in the tale “Le chef-d’oeuvre inconnu” (The masterpiece unknown) by the French writer Honoré de Balzac. The work is included in the second part of Commédie humaine and was written under the infl uence of the process of rupture and transgression of the classical esthetics, and the avant-garde movements that emerged in the nineteenth century.