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In 1878, thanks to the offices of the artist Jules-Elie Delaunay, George Desvallières became acquainted with Gustave Moreau. The two men rapidly became firm friends. The painter of “Salomé” became Desvallières’ private teacher, and thereafter his true and only mentor. This decisive encounter enabled Desvallières to apprehend symbolism, and to discover a new language and new techniques, particularly in the use of colours. Over and above their superficial resemblances, his first works under the guidance of his new master show his particular attention to the tonality of colours. This confrontation with the universe of his master encouraged him make expressive and daring use of single colours. In several of his writings, Desvallières incidentally demonstrates the importance of the pedagogical role of Moreau for the Fauves. It was also thanks to Moreau that Desvallières met Georges Rouault and several other future Fauve painters whom he was later to promote at the Salon d’Automne.

On the death of his master in 1898, Desvallières pursued his researches in the area of the symbolist movement, while developing his own acquired talents in an original style. In 1903, he made a journey to London which constituted an essential step in his personal artistic evolution. The wide variety of different techniques employed and of subject-matters treated, the creativity and virtuosity which emanate from his works of this period gave birth to a corpus of paintings bearing witness to the new orientation adopted by the painter. Desvallières explored the possibilities of subjects related to the night-life and the theatres of the British capital city.

At the first Salon d’Automne in 1903, “Choses vues (souvenirs de Londres)” gives the key-note. At the following Salon, in 1904, he exhibited a fine series of works attached to this londonian period. They allow one to foretaste a more and more clearly affirmed independence, as shown by the unfinished character of some. The subjects are presented without any precise details, using occasionally jerky brush-strokes or composed with small quick traits combined with volumes surrounded by black. Moreau also encouraged Desvallières to take an interest in the work of Toulouse-Lautrec. Bearing witness to the importance of this new orientation, Desvallières, the vice-president of the Salon d’Automne, chose that same year in a retrospective exhibition to honour Moreau, this “unknown master”, as the great critic Vauxcelles called him, whose influence is perceivable in his own work. In many of his works inspired by the London theatres and cabarets, but also by scenes from the Moulin Rouge in Paris, one can in fact see how Desvallières attempts to surpass realism through the expressive use of colour. He appears from then on to submit his talents to the exercise of colour variations reflecting the interest he had taken in his pre-Fauve researches, or at least in a new dynamic of representation. The painting illustrating the page, “Moulin Rouge”, can be ascribed to this period.