Five Butterflies c. 1912

Curator: Looking at this watercolor piece, titled “Five Butterflies,” created around 1912 by Odilon Redon, I can't help but notice the overwhelming sense of… lightness, a certain ethereal quality. They almost seem to float on the paper. Editor: Yes, the airy watercolor technique lends itself beautifully to that feeling of lightness. The butterfly, of course, is a potent symbol across many cultures. What does it evoke for you here? Curator: Immediately, transformation. Butterflies bursting forth represent profound metamorphosis, almost like escaping the confines of chrysalis existence and realizing vibrant new potential. In a sense, the butterflies feel like an emblem for hope. Editor: I agree. But, considering Redon's symbolist leanings, do you think there could be other layers? These butterflies seem isolated on a plain background. Curator: Absolutely. The blank canvas could suggest the unknown future. There's an exquisite melancholy. Even as they morph and become beautiful, do they flutter on alone through an empty eternity? They look unfinished somehow; you almost will them onward to completion. Editor: True. And, beyond personal symbolism, the butterfly has, throughout history, been associated with concepts as varied as the soul, resurrection, fragility, vanity… Even madness. Redon's style and interests lean heavily on dreamlike states and these might be echoes of themes associated with those kinds of symbolic and emotional butterfly associations. Curator: That's such an elegant connection to draw. And perhaps that is where the power of the work resides; it doesn't dictate any single meaning, it evokes. It offers you a space to imbue the forms with whatever whispers stir within your own psyche. I now feel something almost gothic in this "Five Butterflies". Editor: The evocative power, I think, is intentional. It also feels unfinished, not quite realized, with potential energy which allows us the room to meet the image ourselves. This meeting point is where the symbol truly comes alive. Curator: It’s interesting that through that interplay, those daubs of color almost take on a life of their own.