Afternoon of a Faun

From Greek Ideals to Modernism

Although Nijinsky’s choreography signaled the beginning of a shift towards modernism, the original idea for this ballet was inspired by the Classical artwork on ancient Greek vases and Egyptian frescoes viewed by Diaghilev, Nijinsky and Léon Bakst at the Louvre. After viewing the ballet for the first time the sculptor Rodin wrote: “I wish that every artist who truly loves his art might see this perfect personification of the ideals of the beauty of the old Greeks.”

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Afternoon of a Faun , Joffrey Ballet

Photo by Baron Adolph de Meyer, 1914

Inset: Marble relief of Hermes, three nymphs, and Acheloös, c. 320 B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York