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Lot Essay
In January 1900, Redon wrote to Andries Bonger in high spirits:"I am working as always with great joy on my pastels. And they are pleasing, people want them and they take them from me as soon as they are made".
From around 1920, Redon began to move away from mystical and symbolist subjects, and increasingly devoted himself to still lifes and portraits, such as the present work.
One of the most characteristic features of the flower pieces is the balance between naturalism and the vision, the ambiguity between reality and fantasy. Redon and his wife took great pleasure in tending their garden in Bievres and the artist expressed his enthusiasm in his work. His still lifes often depict flowers as a visual symbol in their own right, rather than places within a realistic setting, such as a garden.
Their ephemeral beauty is, to a large degree, due to Redon's use of pastel. In his hands the medium was capable of rendering form in a light and delicate manner with brilliant and luminous colour. His aim in these still lifes was to transform nature into poetry.
(For more information on Redon's mature work and flower still lifes: Exhibition catalogue, Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, The Art Institute Chicago, 1994)
See colour illustration
From around 1920, Redon began to move away from mystical and symbolist subjects, and increasingly devoted himself to still lifes and portraits, such as the present work.
One of the most characteristic features of the flower pieces is the balance between naturalism and the vision, the ambiguity between reality and fantasy. Redon and his wife took great pleasure in tending their garden in Bievres and the artist expressed his enthusiasm in his work. His still lifes often depict flowers as a visual symbol in their own right, rather than places within a realistic setting, such as a garden.
Their ephemeral beauty is, to a large degree, due to Redon's use of pastel. In his hands the medium was capable of rendering form in a light and delicate manner with brilliant and luminous colour. His aim in these still lifes was to transform nature into poetry.
(For more information on Redon's mature work and flower still lifes: Exhibition catalogue, Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, The Art Institute Chicago, 1994)
See colour illustration