Mysterious Head 

Curator: Let's discuss this evocative oil painting titled "Mysterious Head," by Odilon Redon, now held in a private collection. What are your initial impressions? Editor: A pensive mood immediately strikes me. The brushwork is quite apparent, almost raw. There’s a tension between the figure and the surrounding texture. It appears to be quite small scale too, doesn’t it? Curator: Scale is important here. I find that its intimate size lends it power. The symbolic weight is amplified through the formal arrangements—notice how the undefined form above the head mimics its shape while subverting expectations. We find an exercise in Mannerism through this abstraction. Editor: It’s hard to ignore how much materiality dictates form in this piece. I mean, you can clearly see the layers of paint and the almost frantic quality in the way it was applied. Is there any documentation of Redon's methods or perhaps the availability of materials in this period? Because I think the way the paint is worked gives the head this haunting quality. Curator: Precisely! We should appreciate how Redon embraced the freedom that came with the Post-Impressionist period to depart from rigid representation. Note, for example, the treatment of color; how he uses color, such as golden yellow in this work, not as descriptive but as an agent to provoke the viewer. Editor: This yellow feels unsettling here, less like sunshine, and more like sickly light reflecting on the face of labor. The title feels more like an intentional obfuscation to draw attention away from the socioeconomic dimensions. The abstraction gestures at the social weight carried by anonymous subjects of industrial society. Curator: I am glad you note this apparent ambiguity, this work has become more interesting to me by your perspective. Perhaps the artist was attempting a symbolic exploration into the unknowable aspects of consciousness itself! Editor: The more we scrutinize the work involved and its roots in that era, the less mysterious it feels. Thanks, my eyes are certainly open now.