Gustave Doré was born in Strasbourg, France in 1832. Doré started carving in cement by the age of twelve. At the age of fifteen he began his career working as a caricaturist for a French newspaper company. Throughout his life he was asked to depict scenes from books and illustrate the works of many famous authors. In 1866 Doré published a series of 241 biblical wood engravings, including The Confusion of Tongues, that were a great success. This led to a major exhibition of his work in London in 1867. Doré never married and lived with his mother most of his life. He died in 1883 at age fifty one.

This work of art depicts the moment God confused the people at Babel. Doré makes it clear that the people in the artwork are in distress and pain by carefully depicting their body language and facial expressions. For example, the central focus of this image is a man standing with his arms raised high above his head and his face lifted to the sky. It is clear that he is grieving the punishment of God and looking up for forgiveness. Others around him are holding their heads or showing emotions of sorrow and hopelessness. Doré’s use of color and shading also express a mood of sorrow and darkness. The picture’s lack of color adds to the atmosphere of depression that glooms over Babel. Doré uses a grayscale to shade the image and show areas of shadows and light. The sky is dark and filled with dreary clouds. All these techniques come together to focus on the suffering that the people of Babel experienced in result of God’s punishment. Doré chose to express this aspect to the narrative told in Genesis 11:1-9.

Matt Whear