Muse on Pegasus 1910

Curator: Wow, this Odilon Redon piece, "Muse on Pegasus," from around 1910 is really dreamlike. The textures just melt into each other. Editor: It looks like it comes straight out of a fever dream, doesn't it? Everything's a little bit too luminous, like the colours are vibrating. What does Pegasus symbolize here? Curator: Well, traditionally, Pegasus is associated with inspiration, especially poetic inspiration. As a winged horse, he represents the soaring imagination, carrying artists to new heights of creativity. This Muse, then, is perhaps an allegorical figure embodying artistic thought itself. Editor: I see what you mean! It's less about grand heroism and more about personal, almost vulnerable, artistic seeking. The color palette, very soft pinks and yellows and cloudy blues, feels feminine. It is nothing of the epic imagery. Curator: I agree. And Redon's constant re-imagining of classical mythos, of the hero as something vulnerable or fleeting, reveals something more interesting than straightforward classical allusion. Consider, for example, the treatment of light and color; Pegasus is rising, certainly, but into an uncertain, nebulous atmosphere. The promise of divine inspiration comes with a strange visual quietude. Editor: Exactly! And, isn’t it interesting that Pegasus has always been seen as the symbol of transcending through art? It suggests art's transformational potential as well. Do you get a feeling of hope or disorientation, or both? Curator: Precisely. Perhaps the viewer must surrender some semblance of clear-headed logic. The art almost resists clear symbolic readings, presenting the potential, even a necessity, to embrace uncertainty and transformation. Editor: It feels really comforting actually, it takes off the burden of thinking in absolutes. There are soft edges here, not a cut-and-dry narrative. And a figure on Pegasus is so different from our usual images. Curator: Redon was a genius for those softer lines, that more intuitive vision. We're lucky to get a peek into that internal world here. Editor: Totally, let us sink in!