Head of a Young Woman 19th-20th century

Curator: This is Odilon Redon's "Head of a Young Woman," currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: She looks like a dream. The blues and corals are almost otherworldly, and then there's that...dragon? Horse? thing on the left. What's she dreaming about? Curator: The pastel medium contributes to that ethereal quality, softening the form and blurring the boundaries between the figure and ground. The compositional structure seems deliberately unconventional, refusing a traditional portrait's clarity. Editor: It's like she's both present and disappearing at the same time, a fleeting impression. It reminds me of how memories fade. Curator: An astute observation. Redon was, after all, deeply invested in exploring subjective experience and the symbolist aesthetic. Editor: Well, Redon succeeded. I feel a strange kind of melancholy, but also hope. What a wonderful, weird piece.