Apollo's Chariot 1906

Odilon Redon made this painting of Apollo's Chariot, date unknown, and it’s a wild ride of color and form. It's like he threw paint at the canvas and then found the image within the chaos, a process I can totally relate to. The materiality here is fascinating. Look at the sky, a mix of blues and yellows, not blended smoothly but scrubbed on, creating a real sense of texture. Then, the red at the bottom, thick and almost visceral, like blood or lava. See how those reds and blues meet, a collision of hot and cold, of earth and sky. I keep thinking about how this speaks to Redon's broader obsession with dreams and the subconscious. Redon, like the Symbolists, was so influential, he has to be a granddaddy to artists like de Chirico or even Rothko! This painting isn't just a depiction, it’s an invitation to dream along with Redon, to find our own myths in the paint.