On November 1st, 1899, on All Saints Day, Bartholomé's Monument to the Dead was unveiled at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Its success was instantaneous: 98,000 people rushed to visit the work on that one day. It is one of the most celebrated monuments in Europe. Albert Bartholomé had started working on this piece in 1889. In 1895, he presented this final plaster model at the National Fine Arts Society Salon in Paris.

This colossal high-relief set on two levels is inspired by ancient tombs, in particular the Egyptian mastaba. The upper level portrays the passage from life to death. A couple symbolising humankind crosses the threshold of the door to eternal night, surrounded by two groups of seven figures who embody the "protestations of the soul against ultimate destruction". Their expressions and bearing evoke the various feelings that death can arouse. Below is a deceased couple with a child tossed across their bodies in a representation of death. Above them, a young woman who embodies "the Spirit of life and light" spreads her arms in a gesture of blessing and resurrection. Sweeping aside grim realism as well as any overly specific religious sentiment, Bartholomé was striving towards an universal feeling. This monument's incredibly pure forms constitute a turning point in the history of sculpture: the principles used by Bartholomé, which are as far from the virtuoso effects of late 19th century academic artwork as they are from Rodin's tortured creations, paved the way for a new movement: 'le retour au style'.