Apparition

Odilon Redon prints bring the strange, dreamlike world of French Symbolism into your home, from mysterious black charcoal visions to glowing bouquets of flowers. Redon was a draughtsman, printmaker and painter whose imaginative art is seen as a forerunner of Surrealism. Our collection of fine art prints covers his lithographs and noirs, his colourful pastels and paintings of flowers, myths and Buddhas, and his portraits.

About Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon was born Bertrand Redon in Bordeaux on 20 April 1840, to a prosperous family; his nickname Odilon came from his mother's name, Odile. He won a drawing prize at ten, but at his father's insistence trained for architecture. After failing the entrance exams of the École des Beaux-Arts, he studied painting briefly with Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1864, then took up sculpture and printmaking back in Bordeaux.

He served in the Franco-Prussian War. Before and after the war he worked almost entirely in charcoal and lithography, producing the black works known as his noirs; his first album of lithographs, Dans le Rêve, appeared in 1879. He became known when the novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans praised his drawings in the 1884 novel À rebours. Around 40 he married Camille Falte, and their son Arï was born in 1889.

In the 1890s he turned to pastel and oil, which soon became his favourite media, and after 1900 he abandoned the noirs altogether. He exhibited with the Nabis in 1899, painted decorative panels for the Château de Domecy in 1900–01, and was strongly represented at the 1913 Armory Show in New York. He died in Paris on 6 July 1916.

Style and Subjects

Redon's early noirs are dark and haunting: floating eyes and heads, spiders with human faces, strange plants and monsters, drawn in velvety black charcoal and lithograph. They were inspired by literature, science and dreams.

His later work bursts into colour. Pastels and oils of flowers in vases, butterflies, Pegasus, Buddhas, sea creatures and mythological figures glow with jewel-like blues, oranges and purples. Influenced by Japanese art and an interest in Hindu and Buddhist thought, they lean toward abstraction.

Famous Works

• Dans le Rêve (In the Dream) (1879). His first album of lithographs, launching his noirs.
• Pégase captif (1889). Pegasus held captive, a lithograph of struggle and freedom.
• Closed Eyes (Les Yeux clos) (1890), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. A calm face with closed eyes rising from the water.
• Brünnhilde in Twilight of the Gods (1894). A lithograph inspired by Wagner.
• The Apocalypse of Saint John (1899). A series of lithographs illustrating the Book of Revelation.
• The Buddha (1906), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. A serene, glowing image of the Buddha.
• The Birth of Venus (1912), Museum of Modern Art, New York. Venus rising from a shell in luminous colour.
• The Cyclops (1914), Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo. The giant gazing at a sleeping nymph in a dreamlike landscape.

Decorating with Redon Prints

Redon's flower pastels, like Vase of Flowers, bring glowing colour to a bedroom, living room or reading corner, and suit both modern and traditional interiors.

His dark lithographs and noirs make a dramatic, thought-provoking gallery wall in a study or hallway, and his myths and Buddhas create a calm, mystical mood in a meditation or reading space.

FAQ

What art movement was Odilon Redon part of?

Redon was a leading Symbolist, and his dreamlike imagery is seen as a forerunner of Surrealism. He also exhibited with the Nabis.

What are Redon's "noirs"?

The noirs are his early works in black charcoal and lithography, full of strange, dreamlike images. He gave them up after 1900 for colour.

What is Redon's most famous work?

His lithograph albums, The Cyclops (1914), The Birth of Venus and his many pastels of flowers are among his best-known works.

Where can I see Redon's work?

The Musée d'Orsay, the Museum of Modern Art, the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Getty Museum and the Brooklyn Museum hold his work.

Related Artists

• Gustave Moreau: fellow French Symbolist of dreams and myth
• Pierre Bonnard: Nabi painter whom Redon portrayed
• Maurice Denis: Nabi painter with whom he exhibited in 1899
• Paul Gauguin: Symbolist painter of the same generation
• Rodolphe Bresdin: visionary printmaker of the generation before