Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)
Violette Heymann
1910
Pastel on gray wove paper, 72 x 92 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Although he was known early in his career for works primarily in black and white, such as charcoal drawings and lithographs, Odilon Redon turned to more colorful media, including pastel, later on. In particular, he focused on commissioned pastel portraits of women with flowers, such as this one. Here, the young niece of the Parisian collector Marcel Kapferer appears alongside colorful blossoms as she looks forward, focused as if in the dreamlike state evoked by her surroundings. This pastel was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art in the same year as several other works by Redon, leading arts writers to describe Cleveland as holding the most important works by the artist outside of Paris at the time. (CMA)