Le char du Soleil 1910

Odilon Redon produced this painting, “Le char du Soleil,” in France during the late 19th and early 20th century, a period when artists turned to mythology as a way of accessing universal themes. Here, Redon uses the Greek myth of Apollo, the god of the sun, who rode his chariot across the sky each day. The image evokes a sense of awe and wonder, but also the loneliness of the artist. We can analyze Redon’s approach to representing classical myths, by looking at the French art institutions of his time and the way the academy taught painters to idealize the human form and use classical themes to convey moral messages. Redon breaks from this tradition through loose brushwork and ethereal colours to create a dreamlike atmosphere, more fitting to the symbolist movement. To understand how Redon’s work fits into its moment, we need to look at not just the artwork, but also exhibition reviews, the artist’s biography and letters, and other archives of the period.