Roger and Angelica 1910

Odilon Redon made this pastel drawing of Roger and Angelica at some point in his career, but we don’t know exactly when. He was super into color, especially blues and yellows, and he layered them to get these incredible atmospheric effects. I can just imagine him standing there with the pastel sticks, working fast, trying to capture that dreamlike vision of a golden horse in flight, a damsel in distress, and some monstrous figure lurking on the left. What I love about Redon is how he embraces the unreal. It's like he's saying, "Sure, here's a winged horse, why not?" There is a lightness of touch here, too. He knew how to suggest a form without overdefining it. It’s as though he’s conjuring a world rather than depicting one. I’m reminded of how much artists inspire one another across time; Redon was looking back to the Renaissance, and now we look back at him. Making art is like one big game of telephone, isn’t it?