Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon was born on April 20, 1840, in Bordeaux, France. As a child, he was frail and unhealthy, and was entrusted to the care of his uncle who lived on a family estate of Peyrelebade near Listrac in an isolated manor house surrounded by neglected vineyards. The atmosphere of his upbringing was melancholic, and imprinted itself on the young Redon's sensitive disposition.

In 1851, Redon was returned to the care of his parents and was sent to school, and in 1855 began drawing lessons, although he had been drawing well for many years. In fact, Redon had already won a prize for drawing at the age of 11. When he began his studies with painter Stanislas Gorin, he already showed considerable skills in watercolor. Gorin took the young Redon to see exhibitions by Jean-Francois Millet, Camille Corot and Eugene Delacroix as well as an exhibit by a young Gustave Moreau.

When he turned 17, Redon's parents insisted that he study architecture. He indeed did comply with that request, serving as an assistant to an architect, but he failed an oral entrance exam for the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He soon was admitted , however, to the class of academic painter Leon Gerome in Paris, but the experience turned out to be a painful one for Redon, who felt the teacher was trying to force his vision on the young artist who felt pressured to conform to Gerome's ideas.

When he returned to Bordeaux in 1865, Redon met Rodolphe Bresdin, an engraver in whom Redon found a kindred spirit. Bresden taught him etching and lithography, and, unlike Gerome, allowed for Redon's individuality. In 1867, his painting "Ronald at the Roncevaux" was accepted by the Salon, but he ultimately chose not to exhibit it.

It wasn't until 1870s that Redon's true creative period began . He published a series of lithographs done in chiefly charcoal and pencil. He originally planned a series based on Blaise Pascal's "Pensees," but only executed two pencil drawings for the series, opting to concentrate on a sequence titled "In Dream" (1878). The lithographs were often surreal and nightmarish visions of giant eyes, spiders and mythological images, and his images were often compared to those of Goya. "Vision" (1881), a large eyeball floating like an ominous balloon, is a prime example of Redon's chiaroscuro drawing style.

Redon's oils and watercolors often concentrated on mythological themes, and his paintings placed him with Gustave Moreau as the prime exponent of Symbolist art. Redon and Moreau were also immortalized by author Joris Karl Huysmans, whose hero in the novel Against Nature admires their work.

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