Le Char D’apollon Et Le Dragon c. 1907

Curator: Looking at this painting by Odilon Redon, made around 1907, titled "Le Char D’Apollon Et Le Dragon," I immediately feel the chaos and dynamism of clashing worlds. What do you think? Editor: Whoa. It's like a dreamscape teetering on the edge of a nightmare, you know? That churning dragon at the bottom seems ready to swallow everything whole, while Apollo in his sun chariot tries to outrun… oblivion, maybe? The colors are so evocative of both danger and splendor. Curator: Redon was deeply invested in the symbolic language of mythology. Apollo, the god of light, reason, and art, is here contrasted with the chaotic, primal force embodied by the dragon. Consider that clash of values during that era in Western culture and psychology... a literal psycho-drama. Editor: Totally. And Redon's not giving us a clean victory for Apollo, is he? Those horses pulling the chariot are barely defined, almost spectral. Is light even going to win this battle? Makes you think about Freud and Nietzsche around that time period - about man's primal nature. Curator: Precisely. And the way he's rendered the scene, with those hazy outlines and almost dissolving forms, it adds to that sense of unease. Redon uses the visual language of symbolism but seems determined to leave it somewhat unintelligible. In our era, we seem equally keen to take it apart but not create much by way of a symbol set in its place. Editor: Yeah, you can practically smell the oil paint, the energy radiating off this canvas is really something else. It's like Redon's throwing paint at the canvas trying to capture this cosmic struggle, to show a deeper reflection of how both are inextricably linked, as they emerge from each other. I'm left feeling quite ambivalent. Curator: The materials only enhance that expressive goal of this piece, and this scene marks that turbulent edge of Modernism. Thank you for lending your insights! Editor: Thanks, Iconographer. I have to go dream now! Maybe I'll have a clearer vision of Apollo and the dragon in the morning!