Odilon Redon (1840-1916)

Odilon Redon's work reveals the life of the profound inner world: dreams, memories and spectral visions. Beginning in the 1870s, Redon worked on a series of charcoal drawings, termed noirs, which vividly explored such imaginary characters and haunting chimeras in monochromatic splendor. After recovering from a serious illness in 1895, he turned away from black and white and began working in color. He claimed "colors contain a joy which relaxes me; besides they sway me towards something different and new" (quoted in Odilon Redon: The Ian Woodner Family Collection, exh. cat., op. cit., 1990, p. 20).

In the present work, Redon suspends smokey spectral figures and floating apparitions against a gleaming background. Although visual delight is paramount in Redon's work, he was not simply satisfied with these optical effects and strove for art to transcend the surface. He was committed to revealing emotions and "in the 1890s and beyond, employing an expanded range of media and iconography, he remained faithful to his desire to create art that expresses the human soul" (D. Druick, Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, Chicago, 1994, p. 236).