In January 1898 Denis made his first visit to Rome, where the works of Raphael and Michelangelo in the Vatican made a strong impression upon him. He wrote a long essay, "Les Arts a Rome", declaring: "the classical aesthetic offers us at the same time a method of thinking and a method of wanting to be, a moral and at the same time a psychology...The classical tradition as a whole, by the logic of the effort and the greatness of results, is in some way parallel with the religious tradition of humanity." In the same year, the two leading figures of symbolism in art, Gustave Moreau and Puvis de Chavannes, died. On his return to Paris, Denis re-oriented his art toward neo-classicism, with clearer lines and figures. He noted in his journal in March 1898: "Think of late paintings where Christ is the central figure...Remember the large mosaics of Rome. Reconcile the employment of large-scale decorative means and the direct emotions of nature."