Odilon Redon "Vase bleu, soucis oranges"

Odilon Redon was born in Bordeaux. In about 1857, he met Clavaud, a botanist, who taught him about all living creatures. This awakened his interest in philosophy and literature. In 1863, Redon joined Jean Leon Gerome's studio at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but he left in 1865 to study under Rodolphe Bresdin (1822-85), a copper plate engraver, and began producing fantastic etchings and sketches. In 1878, he studied lithographic techniques with Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), and in the following year he published his first albums of lithographs under the title Dans le reve. He befriended such symbolist poets and writers as Mallarme and Baudelaire. Over the next decade, he executed illustrations for La tentation de Saint Antoine (1888, 1889, 1896) by Flaubert and for Les fleurs du mal (1890) by Baudelaire. In these works, he depicted bizarre, imaginary landscapes in black and white. From 1890, he switched to more majestic and colorful styles in pastels and oils, creating fantasy worlds of monsters, angels, women, and flowers.

As Redon said: "True art is art that is felt," and, unlike the Impressionists, Redon placed great importance on sensitivity and spirituality in art.

In the first half of his artistic career, Redon concentated on monochromatic drawings and engravings of wastelands and nightmarish dreamscapes. Among these works, there is a pencil drawing of 1878 bearing a famous quote from Pascal: "The eternal silence of these infinite spaces scares me." This passage seems to epitomize the inner drive behind Redon's work at that time, revealing the torment of a human quivering in terror, oppressed by an atmosphere of primeval light, darkness, and silence.

During the second half of his life, his style changed markedly, from about 1890 entering a period characterized by brilliant and surrealistic colors. The work in our collection belongs to this period, when the artist was in his prime.

The focus of our attention is not the fantastic flower, but the blue vase. In contrast to the somber-hued marigolds, which seem to melt into the colors of the background, the vase is refreshingly sensual. Its phosphorescent blue color is life itself. The vase floats shadowless in an undefined space, reminding us of L'apparition (emergence), a recurring theme in the Redon's art.

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Odilon Redon
(1840-1916)
Vase bleu, soucis oranges

Around 1910
Pastel on paper
44×35cm