Mimosas, Anemonies and Leaves in a Blue Vase 1915

Curator: Oh, that vase practically vibrates! I feel like I could reach out and touch that deep blue. It is, after all, a bouquet of "Mimosas, Anemonies and Leaves in a Blue Vase". Redon created it in 1915. Editor: It has a remarkable intensity of colour for a still life. It really departs from some of the artistic conventions that had reigned in preceding decades. It practically screams ‘modern’. Curator: Precisely! Redon’s symbolist sensibilities were fully in bloom by this point, rejecting the literal for something more…felt. Notice the way the blossoms seem to float, barely tethered to reality. They’re more a representation of feeling than accurate botany. Editor: These works offer such a stark contrast to, say, a lot of academic still-life painting that was all about meticulous detail, capturing textures with perfect accuracy to showcase your mastery over materials, and I can see why that appealed to many but for Redon the emotional depth took center stage. The pastels and gouache give the image such luminosity. Curator: The colour palette is intense – an almost electric orange background against that bold vase and the vivid blooms – a deliberate strategy. These paintings often offered Redon and his viewers an escape route from what he perceived as the grey reality of contemporary French life. Editor: It’s almost a challenge, isn't it, a defiant burst of colour against the backdrop of, well, the looming war. The Petit Palais holds it now, giving the public space to find such a vibrant contrast with their surroundings too. How the institution itself gives context. Curator: That is indeed part of this lasting effect, placing an interior scene against the exterior one we all know. The arrangement teems with symbolic suggestion: ephemeral beauty and the comfort to find it regardless. So vibrant it feels somehow dangerous, like it might overflow! Editor: It does offer an enduring and vibrant conversation to have through colours on view. These symbolist images always had a strong response – then and today. I appreciate knowing Redon worked so consistently in the genre as it matured.