Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)
Orphée (Orpheus)
c.1910
Oil on cardboard, 57 x 55 cm
Musée Fabre, Montpellier
This painting is one of the exceptional donations which, over the last ten years, have enriched the collections of the Fabre Museum. Considered by many to be the greatest French symbolist painter, Odilon Redon has repeatedly treated the subject of Orpheus, one of the ancient myths that most inspired artists in the 19th and 20th centuries. The painter concentrates on the figure of the dead hero, faithfully following the story dedicated to him by the poet Ovid in the Metamorphoses. The square format of the work restricts an indeterminate space on the main motif, the head of the hero who, after having suffered the dismemberment of his body by furious Maenads, floats on the waters, surrounded by ‘a wreath of laurels. This work emanates all the mystery and dreaminess that characterize Redon‘s production. (FABRE)
Compare:
Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)
Orphée
c.1903–1910
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
See also:
• Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD): The Metamorphoses (English)