Some may say he was a bit of one-trick pony, but what 19th-century symbolist painter Gustave Moreau did, he did well.

Moreau was a character with a notoriously peculiar imagination. He was a painter of ideas who developed a style distinguished by a preference for intense mystical and mythological images, something that appealed to the thoughts of some symbolist writers who saw him as a precursor to their movement. Such peculiarities were also rumored to be found in the relationship he had with his mother, which if not oedipal, was certainly unconventional.

A view into his weird and wonderful world is offered at the Moreau family home and atelier turned museum. With a collection of over 4,800 drawings, 450 watercolors and numerous oil paintings, both completed and otherwise, the museum offers the visitor an intimate insight into the artist’s working process, from conception to completion. In particular, the painter’s lofted atelier, with its opulent wrought iron staircase and towering tableaux, is worth the price of admission alone.