Dimensions: 13 1/2 x 9 1/8 in. (34.29 x 23.18 cm) (sight)19 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. (50.17 x 39.37 cm) (outer frame)
Copyright: No Copyright - United States
Odilon Redon made this painting of anemones, sometime around the turn of the century, with oil on canvas. Look at how the flowers have a kind of fuzzy edge, created from lots of little brushstrokes, like he's gently patting the paint on. This gives a feeling of softness, but also of something not quite in focus, like a memory. Redon's handling of paint has a dreamlike quality. The colors are intense, but they're also blended and blurred, creating this really interesting tension between the vibrant hues and the overall hazy atmosphere. The vase itself is covered in these semi-abstracted shapes that echo the blooms above, as if they're melting into each other. I keep coming back to that single white flower, slightly drooping, like it's whispering secrets. There's something about Redon's work that reminds me of Gustave Moreau, another artist who explored the realms of dreams and the imagination. They both seem to suggest that art isn't about capturing reality, but about creating new worlds.
As a Symbolist, Redon does not attempt to make us believe that we are seeing a real vase of flowers. Instead he presents us with a universal archetype-a heavenly dream-of a vase of flowers that seems to float in an ethereal space. He wanted his works to touch us within, saying the he "placed the visible in the service of the invisible."
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