Wildflowers 1906

Odilon Redon created this painting of wildflowers with oil on canvas; it's a party of color, a riot of blooms captured with a real looseness of touch. The surface has this kind of dreamy, almost fuzzy quality, like a memory half-recalled. The paint isn't exactly thick, but it's layered in a way that gives it a tangible presence. You can almost feel the give of the canvas beneath the brush. Look closely at the way he's rendered the petals of those flowers. There's this delicate dance between control and abandon, a willingness to let the paint do its thing. Redon was a contemporary of the Impressionists, but he was really doing his own thing. I'm reminded a little of Emil Nolde's flower paintings, with that same wild, untamed energy. Ultimately, it is the ambiguity in Redon’s work that makes it so enduringly fascinating.