Symbols and shadows

States of mind in pastel, charcoal, and oil

A major Symbolist artist, Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was also a painter of scenic and emotional extremes. Until around 1890, he was renowned for work in black and white only. These Noirs in charcoal drawing or lithograph were composed not only of a sombre palette, but also by fantastic, frightening figures. Gradually, the artist began to introduce coloured pastel, and with it, new and lighter motifs. Flowers became a recurring preoccupation. Where symbols of melancholy once stood, horses and fluttering butterflies entered the scene.

While this latter-day lyricism and harmony contrasted sharply with Redon's earlier mood of melancholy, his guiding principle remained to « place the visible at the service of the invisible. » With his dreamlike imagery, sumptuous textures, and suggestive use of colour, Redon sought to create a pictorial equivalent to his own psyche. From foreboding to lightness, he was above all an artist of states of mind, with considerable influence on later Post-Impressionism.

« My drawings are not self-defining ; they inspire. They determine nothing. Like music, they place us in the ambiguous world of the indeterminate. »

-  Odilon Redon