“Reflection”
This dream-like pastel on paper piece, titled “Reflection,” sometimes referred to as “Dream,” is by the French Symbolist artist, Odilon Redon. It was made sometime between 1900 and 1905.
In this piece, a woman in a long gown is standing on the shoreline looking down to her reflection on the water. The woman is distinct and clear, but the scene is not. The colors and objects blend and blur, giving a feast to the eyes. The water is filled with colors including blue, red, orange, and brown. Redon used these colors to add movement to the scene. In the background, the water is reaching over like a wave against a colorful sky, made brighter from mist of the water. The woman stands out against the white, pale blue, pale green, orange, and pink colors of the sky.
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. After the 1890s, after having a religious-oriented life crisis, after surviving a serious illness, and after the birth of his son, Redon’s demeanor and outlook on life changed as well as his art. He started using vibrant colors. He used them to depict mythological and fantastical images.
He has said, “My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined. They place us, as does music, in the ambiguous realm of the undetermined.” The drawing shown here is one of Redon’s pieces created after his color transformation, and it is quite lovely.
“Reflection” is currently in the collections of the Menard Art Museum in Komaki, Japan.
For more on Odilon Redon, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
