Vase of Flowers 1904

This ‘Vase of Flowers’ by Odilon Redon is a party of color—a symphony of brushstrokes that look like they've been coaxed onto the canvas one by one. It feels like the painting might have emerged slowly, with layers of intuition. Imagine Redon in his studio, trying to capture something fleeting about the natural world. Did he want to hold onto its beauty, or did he want to let something else emerge? These flowers are not just sitting in the vase, they seem to float in the air, they pulsate like the colors of a dream! Notice that poppy, a red sun burning bright in the center. How did he achieve that texture, that glow? He’s thinking about Delacroix, the Impressionists, all those painters who are trying to find ways of seeing and feeling that had not yet been described. We painters, we are all in a conversation across time! Redon invites us to reflect on art as an ongoing experiment, where meaning can change with each gaze. It’s about feeling more than knowing, don’t you think?