# Chapter V explained — Against the Grain > Chapter companion for Against the Grain by J.-K. Huysmans. ## What happens Des Esseintes curates a collection of artworks that embody his rejection of modern life, focusing on the disturbing engravings of Jan Luyken, the fantastical drawings of Odilon Redon, and the decadent masterpiece of Gustave Moreau's Salomé. He arranges his bedroom as a retreat, contemplating the dichotomy between sensual pleasure and solitary contemplation, while the art serves as a gateway to exotic, horrific, and ancient worlds. ## Themes in this chapter ### Artifice vs. Nature Des Esseintes surrounds himself with artificial, curated art to escape the natural world and modern society. ### Aestheticism and Sensuality The detailed description of Moreau's Salomé emphasizes the sensual and aesthetic allure of the painting. ### Illness and Neurosis Redon's drawings evoke Des Esseintes' memories of typhoid fever and nightmares, linking art to his nervous condition. ## Character check-ins ### Des Esseintes Curates his art collection to escape contemporary society, finding solace in works that evoke ancient corruption and nightmare visions. ### Jan Luyken His engravings of religious persecution fascinate Des Esseintes with their brutal detail and historical accuracy. ### Odilon Redon His bizarre and nightmarish drawings captivate Des Esseintes, evoking memories of typhoid fever and the works of Poe. ### Gustave Moreau His painting of Salomé is Des Esseintes' most treasured possession, embodying a dreamlike, decadent antiquity. ### Salomé Depicted in Moreau's painting as a solemn, hypnotic figure performing a wanton dance before Herod. ### Edgar Allan Poe His stories are compared to Redon's drawings for their hallucinatory terror. ## Key lines > These prints were mines of curious information; a man could look at them for hours and never weary; profoundly suggestive of ideas, they often helped Des Esseintes to kill the time on days when books refused to interest him. The engravings were a rich source of fascination, occupying Des Esseintes for hours when reading failed to engage him. _Highlights the role of visual art as a substitute for literature in Des Esseintes' retreat._ > Overcome by an indefinable sense of distress before these designs⁠—the same distress he had formerly experienced at the sight of certain Proverbs of Goya's which they resembled, as also after reading some of Edgar Allan Poe's stories, whose mirages of hallucination and effects of terror Odilon Redon seemed to have transferred into a sister art, he would rub his eyes and gaze at a radiant figure that, amid these frenzied designs, rose calm and serene, a figure of Melancholia. Redon's drawings caused Des Esseintes a vague unease similar to that from Goya's works and Poe's tales, but he found relief in the serene figure of Melancholia. _Connects the art to Des Esseintes' psychological state and his appreciation for contrasting moods._ > The thought of this Salomé, so full of haunting suggestion to the artist and the poet, had fascinated Des Esseintes for years. The image of Salomé, rich with symbolic meaning for artists and writers, had long captivated Des Esseintes. _Emphasizes the enduring power of Moreau's Salomé as a central obsession for Des Esseintes._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/against_the_grain_se/chapters/v - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/against_the_grain_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/against_the_grain_se/chapters