Madame Arthur Fontaine 1901

Odilon Redon made this painting of Madame Arthur Fontaine, we don't know exactly when or with what. Looking at this painting, I can almost feel the soft strokes of pastel layering up on the surface; the yellow ochre dress, the indigo flowers, the way the colors bleed and blend at the edges makes it so dreamy. You can tell Redon was thinking about color and light, but also about mood. What might it have been like to work in such a hazy way, to trust in atmosphere and feeling? I think of Whistler’s tonalism but Redon is weirder. It's like he's painting a feeling more than a real scene. With his colors and shapes, Redon creates a world that exists somewhere between reality and imagination. Thinking about Redon’s process, how he made choices and built up the image bit by bit makes me wanna get in the studio and see what happens when I let go and trust my instincts.