Le Buddha 1895

Odilon Redon made this lithograph of "Le Buddha" in late 19th-century France, a period marked by significant social and intellectual upheaval. Redon’s image presents us with a figure of the Buddha that departs from established visual codes and cultural references. The visual is not an attempt at accurately representing Eastern religion but reflects the rise of Symbolism in France, a movement which prioritized subjective experience over objective reality. We see the figure of Buddha positioned alongside a dark sun and what appears to be a dark eye. The accompanying quote from Gustave Flaubert reads "I was wearier in the schools than the doctors.” What do we make of an artwork that uses non-western imagery to critique the foundations of Western knowledge? The artist is not interested in representing the East accurately, but in questioning the dominant ideologies and institutions of his own time. To understand this print, we need to draw upon the history of Symbolism, the relationship between France and the East, and the ways in which the institutions of art shaped Redon’s work. In doing so, we recognize that the meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional contexts.