This is a very well produced graphic novel. Its based on s historical story of an artists must who goes missing. Its lovely to read and is. Informative. There's nothing else quite like it. I really enjoyed it.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook.

I honestly didn't know where this story was going until the middle of it where it turned into a mystery/thriller book except for this time it has the best ending it could have. I loved the art style, it was more of the 19th century.

I loved it... It was the most meaningful thing I have ever read so far about a painter's life.

I would most definitely recommend this book to anybody who has any interest in painting/a painter's life.

My thanks to Europe Comics for a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘The Muse’ with script by Zidrou and art by Oriol in exchange for an honest review. It was originally published in French as ‘Still Lives’ and translated by Matt Madden.

This graphic novel tells the story of an ageing Catalan painter, who while working in his Barcelona studio in 1939 shares with his model the mystery of his best friend Vidal Balaguer, “the forgotten genius” of Catalan Modernism, who vanished on the eve of 1900.

Vidal’s story links to another disappearance a few months earlier of his muse and lover, Mar, the subject of his most famous painting, “Young Lady in a Mantón." A police detective is convinced that Balaguer had murdered his model but things are not that straightforward.

I was fascinated to learn that Vidal Balaguer was indeed a painter and it appears that Oriol Hernandez is passionate about bringing him and his work to a wider audience. This is a fictional biography and I did wonder if Vidal had existed or not.

However, the original page for the graphic novel reads:

“Still lives: the imaginary biography of a forgotten genius of Catalan painting by Zidrou and Oriol A prodigy of Catatan modernism, his name has not spanned centuries or even borders. Zidrou and Oriol resuscitate him for an album. Back to the Vidal Balaguer mystery…

Do not search the internet for hours, you will not find anything if it is not a Wikipedia page created by Dargaud editions. We learn that the man was born in 1873 in Barcelona, ​​studied Fine Arts at La Llotja, maintained tumultuous relationships with his mistresses before finally disappearing in 1899.” (Translated from French)

The art in this graphic novel was excellent and was very much in the style of the period. It concludes with a short article by Roser Domenech, a professor of art history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, about Balaguer’s life and work. It includes an extract from his 1897 notebook that explains something of his personality: “Painting is a part of me. The thought of being exhibited, sold, owned like an object plunges me into bottomless sorrow. No one deserves to be dispossessed of his own self.”

Domenech is part of a project seeking to recover Balaguer’s paintings and to bring the artist back from oblivion. I do feel that in creating this work Zidrou and Oriol have contributed in their own way to this project.

I appreciate Europe Comics publishing this graphic novel as it not only is an imaginative story, with excellent artwork but also educational.

I really liked this, especially the ending.

I also don't understand the ending with the loan shark guy but I'm sure its because I'm not in Paris. Anyways this story is about a disappearance of a muse. Then later on the painter of this muse that disappears also then disappears himself. I feel like this graphic novel would be a great fairy tale to tell children or at least it has that feel.

A fascinating graphic novel which explores the disappearance of the artist Vidal Balaguer, known as "the forgotten genius" of Catalan Modernism, who vanished on the eve of 1900.

There are many questions about Balaguer and his disappearance and whether he murdered his muse and lover, Mar. In this story Zidrou explores a possible answer to the mystery. Zidrou always produces thoughtful and beautifully illustrated graphic novels and the art work in this one conveys the haunting nature of the story. It is beautifully illustrated and beautifully told.

Copy provided by Europe Comics via Netgalley in exchange for and unbiased review.

This was better than I expected. The story is showing us the last days of the life of Vidal Balaguer. And it is very, very interesting. The artwork is amazing! I really fell in love with that. Though the quality of the material given to me was not the best, so I believe the original one will be even more beautiful.

A lovely little beautiful story that doesn't really say... anything. Nothing about art, or debt, or love. Shame, really.

I would like to thank you for your book.. I am sorry, this is not the read that I really enjoy but I would say it may appeal to other reader. The art was different but nice. The woman...the muse is in your face...but I believe that is what a muse is suppose to be. Thank you again!

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, The Muse. I liked the story and the art in it. I wish there was a physical copy I could pick up and own.

I wasn't sure where this story was going to go. I don't know a lot about art, so I was kind of lost in the beginning. I really liked the turn the story took, I thought it was really quite unique. A little bit of magic to explain some unexplainable things. I really liked it.
Thank you #netgalley for my copy of The Muse

In December of 1939 artist Joaquim Mir reminisces about his good friend Vidal Balaguer, an incredibly gifted artist who mysteriously disappeared forty years prior at the turn of the century. This fictionalized imagining uses factual information to build a story with decidedly Twilight Zone-esque sensibilities.

An interesting story with enough of an avant garde flavor to be slightly off kilter, mildly disconcerting (in a good way).The art is such that you don't notice it except when it's portraying the artist renditions/paintings of their work.

I liked it. It takes a moment to get into what's happening and there are one or two places that seem to suffer from translation issues... Once you get past that initial bump it's easy to disappear into the flow of the story.

***Thanks to NetGalley, Europe Comics, Zidrou and Oriol for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

The Muse gives a supernatural spin to the story of Vidal Balaguer - a nearly forgotten artist of the 19th/20th century. The Muse tries to show the last days of his documented life and suggest what could have happened.

Vidal fell in love with one of his models, but she disappeared without a trace after he's finished her painting. He's broken, emotionally and financially. For unknown reasons, he doesn't agree to sell his best paintings. To make matters worse, Police thinks he can be responsible for stealing a corpse and, perhaps, murdering his model.

While the story isn't exactly groundbreaking it offers good pacing, solid plotting, and spectacular art. On the whole, it's a beautifully illustrated mystery story I'll reread just for the pleasure of admiring Oriol's panels.

ARC through NetGalley

The art work was beautiful, story was something i was not excepting and very interesting. Good short read.

Translated to English with a few seams, The Muse chronicles the life of late 19th century Spanish painter, Vidal Balageur. Filled with stunning illustrations and interwoven with the well-known painters and styles of the time.

A mature European comic translated. Following the the speculative history of an late 19th century artists named Vidal Balaguer. I loved the legend interwoven in this graphic novel, and found the story interesting. Mature themes and beautiful illustrations with a touch of art history and legend, this was a unique graphic novel. A few spots were spotty with the translation, but forgivable. The e-book version I received from net galley left the text a bit blurry, but hopefully this is fixed in the printed edition. Very interesting read and I liked how at the end there is a short bio explaining the true life scenarios explaining the inspiration of this depiction of Vidal's life.

I don't know much about art, which means as soon as this ended I had to google where or not Vidal was an actual artist or if this was entirely fiction.
Does it matter though?
The story is simple and yet it captures the imagination. The art in the story captures a sort of sensuousness that is magical and I loved every moment of it. You can almost believe that an artist painted away things that he loved, and that he existed and refused to sell his art even when he was to be ruined because it literally had his subjects.

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. It’s storytelling was so smooth and enveloping, and the art was absolutely stunning. I didn’t know the story of Vidal, but I’m incredibly glad I do now. I would read anything else this author/artist created.

I did not care to finish it, I stopped at page 27. It's just not my cup of tea, I don't mind nudity in the cover, but there was a lot in the book and it was a bit too much and somewhat unnecessary.

Wonderful art style and a pretty sold story (didn't really care for the "missing woman fuelling a guy's man-pain but nobody cares about HER" aspect). I really liked the finale but, in the end, I'm confused about what it was trying to say. It doesn't delve deep into art or love, the two subjects I'm pretty sure it's about. Was it just a biography for Vidal, just spruced up for modern audiences? Maybe it wasn't even trying to say anything and I'm trying to read too much into it. Either way, 3 stars, because it was enjoyable while I was reading it but it didn't make much of an impact.

I am not the biggest fan of books related to art in general but I can still enjoy them. I know for a fact there art references interwoven into this that went over my head though I do like the few that I was able to understand. I love how the artist uses color to convey meaning and emotion and how the line of reality and imagination is crossed at times. At times I was not the biggest fan of the art style but I understand that is more a personal preference than anything. Overall though I really enjoyed it and since art style is a major deal breaker for me when it comes to graphic novels , the art for this was really well done.

I really enjoyed the story too . There are layers of mystery and again that whole bleeding of what is real and what is just whimsical story telling. There are heavy themes of The Picture of Dorian Grey bleeding through. For me that is a good thing since I love any sort of media that references that in some way even if at times it can come off as a cliche . Felt this graphic novel put good spin on it though . I really enjoyed the way way the muse written in this work. She is both something to be adored and marveled at and at times feared as well because of the power she can hold. Like so many muses , she is both inspiration and obsession and think this work walks a fine line of showing both those paths.

The best part of this graphic novel would have to be the ending more so because it can be taken in so many different ways and I for one like open endings or endings that can be taken in more than one.way . I like that by the end there lots of questions that we just do not get answers to . If taken one way can be like it was a wonderful case of some magical realism, if taken another it is sad road of a man in debt who was obsessed with his muse . Maybe a bit of both is the real answer. The thing though is that the graphic novel lends itself to many possible outcomes. Some sad and morbid others happy and hopeful. Either way it was nice to see. Overall think this was really well down. The the was beautiful and eyecatching, the story was interesting and fun to read.