Bouquet of Flowers 1904

Odilon Redon made this ‘Bouquet of Flowers’ with oil on canvas at an unknown date. Imagine him at his easel, building up the painting's surface in layers, a sea of marks, pushing and pulling at the image until it finally surrenders. Look at the feverish energy of the brushstrokes, applied in short, sharp stabs of color. What I love about this painting is that Redon has captured the essence of flowers, not just their outward appearance. There’s a sense of something wild and untamed about this bouquet, as if the flowers have just been plucked from a field and arranged in a hurry. It makes me think of other artists, like Manet, who were also exploring new ways of seeing the world. Artists are always in conversation with one another, riffing on each other's ideas and pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. It's this ongoing exchange that makes art so exciting.