 Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
Lady of the Flowers, 1890–5
Oil on canvas
Purchase, Louise and Walter F. Dillingham Fund, 1964
(3213.1)
A painter, draftsman, and printmaker, Odilon Redon
conjured with the irrationalism lurking beneath the
surface of human reason. Lady of the Flowers is typical
of his work of the 1890s, when self-absorbed, eerily
spiritual women in profile—often contemplating
imaginary sprays of flowers—became one of his
favorite themes. While the color and lyricism of these
works contrasts with the macabre melancholy of his
earlier black-and-white drawings, Redon’s aesthetic
was fundamentally unaltered. By advocating
imagination, rather than realism, he transformed nature
into dream and explored the suggestive potential of
color, contributing considerably to Symbolism. |