I Plunged into Solitude. I Dwelt in the Tree behind Me, plate 9 of 24
1896
Medium
Lithograph in black on light gray China paper laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 30 × 22.7 cm (11 13/16 × 8 15/16 in.); Chine: 30.1 × 22.5 cm (11 7/8 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 52 × 34.8 cm (20 1/2 × 13 3/4 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79620
Art Historical Context
Odilon Redon's *I Plunged intoitude. I Dwelt the Tree behind Me* (1896), plate 9 from a series of 24 lithographs as *Les Origines invites viewers into the dreamlike realm of French Symbolism. Redon, a master of the fantastical and the subconscious, created this work during his celebrated "Noirs" period, where monochromatic visions evoked mystery, isolation, and inner turmoil. The poetic title, drawn from literary inspirations, suggests a figure merging with nature—perhaps a symbolic retreat into solitude amid a shadowy tree—reflecting fin-siècle anxieties about modernity and the soul's hidden ...
About the Artist
Odilon Redon · 1840–1916
Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was a French Symbolist painter, printmaker, and pastellist whose visionary art bridged the 19th-century Symbolist movement and 20th-century Surrealism. Born Bertrand Redon in Bordeaux on April 20, 1840, he earned the nickname "Odilon" from his mother Odile. His father, who made his fortune in the Louisiana slave trade, conceived Odilon in New Orleans before the family retu...