Odilon Redon

French, 1840 - 1916

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A balding man with peach-colored skin and a drooping white mustache is surrounded by flowers floating in a blue sky with apricot-colored clouds in this vertical painting. He is shown from the waist up facing us at the bottom center. He seems to wear a midnight blue tunic over a white shirt, but his clothing is loosely painted. He looks down to our right, and his head is surrounded by an area of brownish gold to create a halo-like effect. Upon closer inspection, the peach clouds turn out to be areas of bare canvas. A sunflower, orange flowers, and a cluster of white and red flowers float in the space around the man. Some areas are thinly painted, and strokes are visible throughout.
Odilon Redon, Evocation of Roussel, c. 1912, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.203

Evocation of Roussel

Odilon Redon · c. 1912 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.203
In the center of this painting is a blue vase filled with a variety of flowers in different sizes and colors. The flowers are in shades of orange, pink, yellow, and blue, with green leaves surrounding the blossoms. Some of the flowers are large and round, while others are smaller and shaped like trumpets or teardrops. At the center of the blue vase is a section of pink with some red lines. A few blue petals fall from the flowers into the air. The background behind the vase is mostly gray, although it contains mottled patches of pink, yellow, teal, and light green.
Odilon Redon, Large Vase with Flowers, c. 1912, oil on canvas, Gift of the Honorable John C. Whitehead, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1990.64.1

Large Vase with Flowers

Odilon Redon · c. 1912 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1990.64.1
We look across an ochre-yellow field to a band of pearl-white buildings under an azure-blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. Flecks of red in the lower right corner could be flowers. Some of the buildings have tan or silvery-gray roofs, and the faces are in blue shadow. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and a few round white clouds trundle across the vivid blue sky. The scene is painted with visible, textured brushstrokes throughout. The artist signed the lower left corner, “ODILON REDON.”
Odilon Redon, Breton Village, c. 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1994.59.11

Breton Village

Odilon Redon · c. 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1994.59.11
This painting depicts a coastal scene overlooking a quiet shore. At the bottom of the painting, an open sandy expanse leads to blue waters. On the other side of the water, to the left of the painting, is another shoreline with several small white and brown buildings. The buildings have pointed roofs, arched doors, and small chimneys. The sky behind the building is the same bright blue as the water, and on the right is the vague outline of a mountain range in light purple. The brushstrokes are soft and loose, and are especially visible in the shore, water, and sky.
Odilon Redon, Village by the Sea in Brittany, c. 1880, oil on cardboard on hardboard, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2012.89.7

Village by the Sea in Brittany

Odilon Redon · c. 1880 · oil on cardboard on hardboard ·  Accession ID  2012.89.7
This painting shows five butterflies of various colors on a cream-colored background. The butterflies are arranged in a loose diagonal line, although four of them are gathered closer to the top-right corner. The butterflies are painted in colors such as blue, red, yellow, and brown. The butterflies are painted with varying levels of detail, with one in the center being particularly abstract. The lowest butterfly, near the bottom-left corner, appears to be crawling or is seen from a side view, while the other four are flying and are seen from above.
Odilon Redon, Five Butterflies, c. 1912, watercolor on wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.113

Five Butterflies

Odilon Redon · c. 1912 · watercolor on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1985.64.113
The image depicts a profile view of a person from the waist up. The person is facing to the left, with a bob haircut and dark hair. Their facial features are subtly highlighted. The clothing features soft lines and a high collar. There are no visible jewelry or objects. The background is a uniform, muted green color.
Odilon Redon, Léon Fayet (?), 1910, pastel and charcoal(?) on green prepared wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.64

Léon Fayet (?)

Odilon Redon · 1910 · pastel and charcoal(?) on green prepared wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.64
A pale-skinned young woman with copper-orange hair, wearing a turquoise-blue robe, stands in a pastel-infused landscape in this stylized, vertical painting. The woman fills most of the left half of the composition. She faces our right in profile with her head bowed as she looks down at the silver and brown box she holds in her right hand, closer to us. Her body angles away from us so we see her back. Her hair is held back under a gold-colored headand, and her blue robe falls over a white skirt. Beyond her, rocky mountains in ice blue and pale lilac purple span the horizon, which comes about three-quarters of the way up the painting, beneath a pale, rose-pink sky. An area of mottled parchment-white to our right of the person could be a field. Along the bottom edge of the canvas, rounded and organic shapes in scarlet red, turquoise, lapis blue, golden and lemon yellow, and pumpkin orange could be abstracted earth or flowers at the woman’s feet.
Odilon Redon, Pandora, 1910/1912, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.56

Pandora

Odilon Redon · 1910/1912 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.56
The painting shows a large bronze vase filled with a bouquet of wildflowers, including white daisies, light blue cornflowers, and bright red poppies and roses. Between the larger flowers are green leaves and smaller flowers in purple, orange, and pink. Behind the vase is a background that is mostly light gray but has hints of rosy pink and light blue. The paint is applied in thick, textured strokes.
Odilon Redon, Flowers in a Vase, c. 1910, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.56

Flowers in a Vase

Odilon Redon · c. 1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.56
This painting displays a man standing upright, with his back against a tree. His hands are behind his back, and his face is turned to the right. He has pale skin, and his face is a mix of pale pink and light blue. He has short, reddish-brown hair, and he is nude except for a thin light blue cloth around his hips. He is pierced in several placed by thin arrows. The tree behind him is light gray, dotted with small, sparse red leaves. The ground below him is filled with colorful patterns, including green, red, orange, and blue tones against dark reddish-brown. There is a large patch of white on the left side. Behind the tree, the light blue sky is covered in thin, light gray clouds.
Odilon Redon, Saint Sebastian, 1910/1912, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.57

Saint Sebastian

Odilon Redon · 1910/1912 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.57
A bouquet of coral orange, bright yellow, and periwinkle blue flowers and greenery are arranged in a teal-green vase in this pastel drawn on brown paper. The orange flowers have long, curved petals. The yellow flowers have wide blooms with spiky petals, and the blue blossoms are smaller with wispy petals. The vase has a narrow opening and wide shoulders. The background is mostly the tan of the paper with some light-handed, black shading to the right. The artist signed the drawing in the lower right corner, “Odile Redon.”
Odilon Redon, Wildflowers, c. 1905, pastel on brown wove paper coated with sawdust, Gift of Loula D. Lasker, 1961.12.1

Wildflowers

Odilon Redon · c. 1905 · pastel on brown wove paper coated with sawdust ·  Accession ID  1961.12.1