FREE ESSAY ON REDON

REDON

The work of Odilon Redon (1840-1916) vividly illustrates the theories of Symbolism. In
reaction to his Impressionist contemporaries, whom he accused of aiming too low, Redon
sought to combine human beauty with the nimbus of intellect. In creating such works as
'Closed Eyes', 'The Birth of Venus' and 'The Chariot of Apollo', he unlocked the door to
the invisible. Imbued with the music of Wagner, enraptured by the poetry of Edgar Allan
Poe, Baudelaire, and Mallarme, he lent expression to his obsessive fears and dreams in
the prints and charcoals he called his noirs. 
Then, gradually, colour began to filter into his work, and the fallen angels, hideous
monsters, gnomes, giants and fantastic forms gave way to women, bouquets of flowers,
mythological subjects and butterflies. Oils, pastels and watercolours marked a turning
point in his creative inspiration, bodied forth in a new and exceptionally sumptuous
handling of colour. Serenity now took the place of fear. 
This new synthesis, this intimate fusion of the real and the symbolic, which was much
admired by his young friends, the Nabis, calls to mind the famous maxim he had long since
adopted, one that heralded the advent of Surrealism: