3207 - ODILON REDON

ODILON REDON (Bordeaux 1840–1916 Paris) Bouquet de fleurs. Oil on canvas. Signed lower left: ODILON REDON. 56.5 × 45 cm. Provenance: - Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris. - Jos Hessel, Paris (label on verso). - Charles Montag, Paris. - Hans Mettler Collection, St Gallen, acquired from the above in May 1918. - Private collection, Switzerland, inherited by the present owners. Exhibited: Probably Winterthur 1919, Odilon Redon, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, June–July 1919. Literature: Alec Wildenstein: Odilon Redon. Catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint et dessiné, Paris 1996, vol. III, p. 152, no. 1591 (ill.). A lavish bouquet of delicate roses, daisies, bright yellow sunflowers and chrysanthemums in vivid shades of red and orange fills a simple, pale violet vase. Against the dark, softly blurred background, the colours take on an almost supernatural radiance. At the same time, the bouquet seems to float, virtually weightless, in an open space. By dispensing with a clearly defined setting, Redon removes the subject from everyday reality and lends it a quiet presence. The painting belongs to a period in which Redon increasingly turned towards colour and its poetic expressive power. While his early works, particularly the charcoal drawings known as the ‘Noirs’, are marked by sombre visions and the world of the subconscious, from around 1890 he discovered a new means of expression in colour. As one of the most important representatives of French Symbolism, Redon sought more than a faithful depiction of the visible world. Instead, flowers, light and colour become vehicles for inner feelings, transforming the traditional floral still life into a poetic vision poised between reality and dream.