The Birth of Venus 1912

Odilon Redon painted this Birth of Venus with oil. Look at the way the pale form emerges from the giant shell—it’s like the painting itself is pushing upward, struggling to exist. I can imagine Redon working on this, the layers building up slowly, figuring it out as he went. The colors are so muted, almost like a memory. Venus looks like she's forming out of the ground. She’s got that classic pose going on, but she is surrounded by an unusual, otherworldly dreamscape. I wonder what he was thinking about as he painted her? There is such a gentleness, a real sense of awe. And then you see other painters taking this idea and running with it—Picasso or de Kooning. What I love about painting is this ongoing conversation. Redon’s Birth of Venus is another little piece of the puzzle, an invitation to dream and feel.