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Gustave Moreau: The Fables online exhibition

The Cat Transformed into a Woman, 1884

A man is so infatuated with his cat that ‘by dint of prayer, and charm, and spell,’ the cat is transformed into a woman and he marries her. However, habit will not be held at bay. During a night of lovemaking the woman jumps up to chase some mice across the bedroom floor.

The woman’s body is hidden from her husband by a curtain of hair. The viewer watches the man watching the woman, about to strike, watching the mouse.