Portrait of Yseult Fayet 1908

Odilon Redon made this dreamy portrait of Yseult Fayet using pastel crayons, a medium known for its soft, velvety texture and powdery pigments. His mark making is all about layering and blending, creating this haze-like quality, a process of slowly building up colours and forms. Look at the lower-left corner; the blues are so intense, almost vibrating against the warmer greens and yellows. You can see how he’s scumbled the pastel, allowing the colours to mix optically. This technique gives the whole piece a sort of luminous quality, as if the light is emanating from within the image itself. It reminds me of the Symbolist painters, particularly Gustave Moreau, who explored similar themes of dreams, mythology, and the inner life, both using colour to evoke emotion and create a sense of mystery. Redon seems to be inviting us to embrace ambiguity and explore the depths of our own imaginations.