Odilon Redon
Odilon Redon, born Bertrand-Jean Redon in Bordeaux, France, was a French Symbolist artist who lived from 1840 to 1916. His work is known for its imaginative, dreamlike, and fantastical feel. Redon’s art style bridged beyond representative art. Many see his work as paving the way for Surrealism and the Dadaist art movement.
Redon started drawing at a young age. Although he started attending art school at 15 years old, his father insisted that he pursue architecture. That aspiration ended when Redon did not pass the architecture entrance exams at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He did, however, in 1864, take one class with the esteemed Academic artist, Jean-Léon Gérôme.
Redon moved back to Bordeaux and tried again to pursue art. In 1870, he had to pause his career aspirations once again, this time due to his mandatory service in the French military during the Franco-Prussian War. After the war ended in 1871, Redon moved to Paris, again, to pursue art, again. Between 1871 and 1884, he remained mostly unknown, producing a series of charcoal and lithograph works known as his “noirs”. Redon was highly influenced by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe and created a wildly imaginative portfolio of art. He was very depressed in his early years and worked mostly in black and white. Odilon Redon has said about the color, “”Black should be respected. Nothing prostitutes it. It does not please the eye and does not awaken sensuality. It is the agent of the spirit much more than the splendid color of the palette or the prism.”
In 1884, after being fortuitously and prominently featured in a cult classic literary work of fiction, À Rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans, Redon was exposed to a much larger audience. This granted him the beginnings of his notoriety. He also befriended the Post-Impressionist artist, Paul Gauguin. That same year, along with Albert Dubois-Pillet and Paul Signac, Redon was a founding member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. This avant-garde society allowed all artists to exhibit their work with no judges or awards given. Their goal was to foster artistic creativity without any limitations or repercussions. The Société des Artistes Indépendants helped pave the way for Modern art styles such as Fauvism and Cubism. One of his major inspirations was the French artist, Gustave Moreau.
Redon was a Symbolist artist who sought to paint a representation of his internal thoughts and feelings. Symbolism began in France in the late 1880s through literature and poetry as a means to reject realism. This movement quickly spread to the visual arts. The Symbolists wanted to use expressions and subjectivity to understand the world around them. Redon has said of his art, “I have often, as an exercise and as a sustenance, painted before an object down to the smallest accidents of its visual appearance; but the day left me sad and with an unsatiated thirst. The next day I let the other source run, that of imagination, through the recollection of the forms and I was then reassured and appeased.”
After the 1890s, after having a religious-oriented life crisis and after surviving a serious illness, Redon’s demeanor and outlook on life changed. Some believe that he simply became happier after the birth of his son, Arni, who was born in 1889. This outlook on life translated into his art. He started using vibrant colors and pastels. He used bright colors to depict mythological and fantastical images.
As Redon’s art was shifting to a more abstract style, his reputation blossomed. He received ample commissions which allowed him to pursue this modern approach to his art. After 1900, he created no more of his black and white “noir” pieces. He has said of color, “If the art of an artist is the song of his life, a solemn or sad melody, I must have sounded the key-note of gaiety in color.” Odilon Redon died in 1916 at 76 years old.
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