Le Sphynx...mon regard que rien ne peut devier, demeure tendu a travers les choses sur un horizon inaccessible. La Chimere: Moi,Je suis legere et joyeuse (The Sphinx: "My gaze, which nothing can deflect, passes through the things and remains fixed on an inaccessible horizon." The Chimera: "I am weightless and joyful")

1889

Odilon Redon

Associated Names
Odilon Redon

Artist, French, 1840 - 1916

This is a drawing of a sphinx and a chimera. The drawing depicts two mythical creatures against a textured background. On the left side, the sphinx is presented in a traditional manner, with a human face and shoulders adorned with a headdress, connecting to the body of a lion. On the right, the chimera is depicted as a dark figure with a lion's head, a goat's head emerging from its back, and a serpent's tail. The detailed rendering of the creatures contrasts with the artist's more abstract background, which is filled with lines and shading. The overall composition conveys an encounter between the ancient mythological beings.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.7383

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Mellerio 1913, no. 99

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1967

  • Mask and Eye: the graphic work of James Ensor and Odilon Redon, Brandeis University, Dreitzer Gallery, Waltham, MA, 1967, no. 38.

Bibliography

1913

  • Mellerio, Andre. Odilon Redon. Paris: Societe pour l'Etude de la Gravure Francais, 1913. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968.

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