Symbolic Head, c. 1890. Creator: Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916)

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Symbolic Head, c. 1890. Creator: Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916)

Symbolic Head, c. 1890. One of Redons favorite themes of the 1880s and 1890s was a human head depicted in profile. This motif came from his representations of severed heads, often carried aloft on wings, published in the artists first album of prints, Dans le reve (1879). In these images, the separation of the head from the body symbolizes the spirit released from the material world. It also suggests a metaphor for abandoning physical reality for the inner realm of dreams, fantasy, and poetic reverie. This painting conveys the idea of inward-turning vision by framing the head in a series of collapsing rectangles. Redon isolated the head even further by painting a horizontal rectangle or " ledge" over the lower part of the figures body, which originally extended to the bottom edge of the composition. Conservation analysis confirms that the figure is a woman wearing a helmet and holding a green staff in her right hand. However, her exact identity is not known, largely because after altering the crest and other aspects of the helmet, Redon abandoned the painting in an unresolved state

Media ID 19643305

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images

1840 1916 Odilon Redon Odilon Redon French Oil On Paper Mounted On Canvas

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