He falls, head-first, into the abyss (plate 17) 1896

Odilon Redon made this lithograph called "He falls, head-first, into the abyss" in the late 19th century, a period of great social and political change in France. The image shows a chaotic scene with horses rearing up and a figure falling from a carriage, suggesting a world turned upside down. This was a time when traditional social hierarchies were being challenged by new ideas about democracy and equality. Redon was working outside the academic institutions and he was interested in exploring the darker side of the human psyche, influenced by the Symbolist movement. His images are filled with personal symbolism and this might be a reference to the anxiety about the instability of modern life. To understand Redon's work better, we can look at the writings of the Symbolist poets and the social history of France at the end of the 19th century. Art is not made in a vacuum, but is always a product of its time and place.