Odilon Redon

Bertrand Redon was born in France on 20 April 1840 and worked for years almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography, dark pieces he called his noirs. After fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he continued in that vein until Joris-Karl Huysmans mentioned his drawings in the 1884 novel À rebours, bringing him recognition. In the 1890s he began working in pastel and oil, and by 1900 had abandoned the noirs entirely. He developed a fascination with Hindu and Buddhist religion and culture, which seeped into the work. The dreamlike paintings of his final decade — shaped by Japanese art, drifting…