Odilon redon paintings symbolism

She served as a source of inspiration and emotional support, enabling Redon to explore the depths of his imagination with greater freedom and confidence. In many ways, Camille embodied the qualities of the flowers that Redon so often depicted in his artwork grace, resilience, and quiet strength. Your email address will not be published.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Skip to content. Symbolism: Odilon Redon Artistic Language In the late 19th century, a sweeping anti-materialistic and anti-rationalistic sentiment permeated the world of art and ideas, giving rise to the Symbolist movement.

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Necessary Necessary. Non-necessary Non-necessary. Polyphemus symbolizes unrequited love, longing, and the monstrous nature of jealousy. The dream-like setting adds layers of fantasy and mystery to the narrative.

The Cyclops is a prime example of Symbolism. This movement focused on expressing emotions and ideas over realistic depiction. Redon used oil on cardboard, later mounted on panel. This method gave the painting a unique texture. He also applied vivid, contrasting colors to create a striking, otherworldly effect. His subtle brushstrokes and use of light and shadow enhanced the dream-like quality of the piece.

The Cyclops has inspired artists interested in blending fantasy with reality. Its Symbolist roots influenced Surrealists and modern artists who explore unconscious thoughts and dreams. Throughout her undergraduate years, she took Art History as an additional subject and absolutely loved it. Building on from her art history knowledge that began in high school, art has always been a particular area of fascination for her.

From learning about artworks previously unknown to her, or sharpening her existing understanding of specific works, the ability to continue learning within this interesting sphere excites her greatly. Her focal points of interest in art history encompass profiling specific artists and art movements, as it is these areas where she is able to really dig deep into the rich narrative of the art world.

Additionally, she particularly enjoys exploring the different artistic styles of the 20 th century, as well as the important impact that female artists have had on the development of art history. June 10, Meyer, I. Art in Context. Meyer, Isabella. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Discover the most famous artists, paintings, sculptors…in all of history! Discover the most famous artists, paintings, sculptors! In , Redon was awarded the Legion of Honour. His choice of color and subject matter in the second part of his career led to Redon being considered a precursor to Dadaism and Surrealism. In , the Museum of Modern Art launched an exhibition entitled "Beyond The Visible", a comprehensive overview of Redon's work showcasing more than paintings, drawings, prints and books from The Ian Woodner Family Collection.

The exhibition ran from 30 October to 23 January In , the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt presented the exhibition "As in a Dream" with a survey of Redon's work with more than drawings, lithographs, pastels, and paintings. The exhibition ran from 2 June to 9 September Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools.

Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. French painter — Bordeaux , France. Early life [ edit ]. Career [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Reception and interpretations of his work [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Modern exhibitions [ edit ]. Gallery [ edit ].

Odilon redon paintings symbolism

Sita , c. The Death of Buddha , c. The Christ of Silence , Petit Palais. Ophelia , — Dian Woodner Collection. Christ on the Cross , The Abduction of Ganymede Bemberg Foundation. References [ edit ]. Instead of a basket containing passengers, the balloon carries a severed head on a platter, much like that of St. John the Baptist in the Biblical story of Salome.

In the lower left, the fronds of a palm-like plant can be seen, and the sky is full of thick clouds. Severed heads appear with great frequency in Symbolist art and literature, whether in stories of Salome or in more mysterious images such as this one. The head or eyeball dissociated from the physical body is a symbol for freedom from the constraints of everyday life, and the attainment of a higher plane of consciousness.

As scholar and curator Jodi Hauptman writes, "floating up 'towards infinity', let loose from the limitations of body and mind, Redon's eyes are free to really see, beyond reality, beyond nature, beyond the visible. The prints were not meant as illustrations of Poe's poems, but rather as "correspondences," to use Redon's term. Meanwhile, the print's giant eyeball prefigures the extreme close-up of the sliced oculus in Luis Bunuel's Surrealist film, Un Chien Andalou.

A strange smiling spider with ten legs is the subject of Redon's lithograph. The spider's round fuzzy body has a human face, with snub nose and a wide smiling mouth that reveals a row of tiny teeth. The creature tilts slightly to one side on its spindly legs, as if it had just descended from the ceiling via a silken thread. The gridded pattern on the floor gives a sense of three-dimensional space, but the realism of the setting only enhances the surprising effect of the subject who has seen such a spider on their kitchen's tiled floor?

Redon based his print upon an earlier charcoal drawing, but the lithographic medium which uses greasy ink or crayon applied directly to a smooth stone was equally well-suited to the artist's exploration of the color black. Redon was fascinated with the natural sciences, and, with the encouragement of his friend, the botanist Armand Clavaud, he studied anatomy, osteology, and microscopic life.

Indeed many of his "monsters" were based on observation, but were transformed by the artist's imagination. It is the recognition of our humanity in these strange hybrid creatures - the goofy, toothy grin on a fuzzy spider - that makes them so appealing and repellant at the same time. This painting depicts a figure with closed eyes, bare shoulders and a tight helmet of dark hair, seeming to rise out of the sea.

The motif of closed eyes appealed to Redon, for whom the symbol evoked mystery, dream, meditation, and the interior life. At the same time, closed eyes can also connote death, which for the Symbolists represented the ultimate escape from the real world and the earth-bound limitations of conscious life. Closed Eyes marked a turning point in Redon's career, when he began to embrace color for the first time in his art.

Indeed, Redon based the painting upon an earlier charcoal drawing of the same subject. Here, though, the palette is still quite subtle. Redon employed thin washes of oil paint to give a translucent, ethereal effect, while the pale tones and three-quarter-length composition evoke Italian Renaissance marble portrait busts. Closed Eyes has become something of a Symbolist icon it was the first work by Redon to be acquired by a major French museum, in , and most likely depicts Redon's wife, Camille Falte.

Yet the ambiguousness of the figure's gender must be acknowledged, and is yet another signifier of the depicted detachment from the material world. The androgyne was a very popular subject for the Symbolists because of its association with the spiritual realm, and its inherently hybrid nature Leonardo's images of St. John often portray him in a decidedly feminine manner, for instance.

Finally, the ethereal surrounding space adds to the sense of the infinite, and the overall effect of the work is one of serene calm. This is one of several portraits that Redon painted of the wife of his friend and patron, the Baron de Domecy. Here he portrays the sitter amidst an abstract floral background. Her face and head have been drawn in a precise and realistic manner, using delicate strokes of graphite to define her features.

The tan paper ground has been allowed to stand in for her skin, and its muted tones accord with her serious, withdrawn expression, as if she is lost in her own thoughts. In contrast to her monochromatic face, the Baronne's vivid red blouse suggests a more passionate soul than her reserved demeanor would indicate. Likewise, the profusion of floral motifs - which appear more decorative than real - gives the setting a dreamlike appearance, perhaps symbolizing her vivid interior life.

The many floral still lifes that Redon created at the end of his career are among his most popular and recognizable works, and have been widely reproduced. Here, a variety of brightly colored flowers, delicately drawn in pastel, burst out of a decorative blue vase, which has been set against an abstract background rendered in rust, ocher, violet and pink tones.

The vase, which is also decorated with a floral motif, seems to float in the space, rather than resting on any obvious surface. Several small butterflies hover around the bouquet. Redon's pastel still lifes seem familiar, yet simultaneously evoke the heightened images of eidetic, or photographic, memory. Redon described his flowers as being "at the confluence of two riverbanks, that of representation and that of memory.

Rather than a mere element of home decor, the flowers appear like an apparition, a marvelous figment of a fevered imagination. In Redon agreed to decorate the library of the country estate of his friend and patron, Gustave Fayet, an artist who had bought the medieval abbey in with the intention of restoring it. Given complete freedom on the project, Redon created two large panels, Day and Night , for the two walls, and a smaller panel over the doorway.

Day , depicting four horses in homage to Delacroix's ceiling decorations for the Louvre the Apollo Gallery in a setting of golden hues and flowers, expresses the gaiety Redon associated with color. In the panels Redon retrospectively contemplates his own oeuvre , as Day evokes his color period and Night looks back upon his "noirs.

Madeline Fayet, the wife of Gustave, and her daughter Simone are depicted as two veiled women. By including musicians, Redon pays homage to the influence of music upon his own work. A violinist who sometimes performed publicly, Redon said, "music is a nocturnal art, the art of the dream. The butterflies, as Redon said, were meant to be creatures of light that appeared out of the "chrysalis of the dark.