Still Life with Flowers
1905
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
92.7 × 65.5 cm (36 1/2 × 25 3/4 in.); Framed: 111.2 × 84.2 × 6.7 cm (43 3/4 × 33 1/8 × 2 5/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
110982
Art Historical Context
Odilon Redon's *Still Life with Flowers*1905), an oil on canvas measuring nearly three feet tall, captures the artist's late-career shift toward luminous, vibrant compositions. A leading French Symbolist, Redon began with moody charcoal "Noirs" evoking dreams and myths, but by the early 1900s, he embraced oil painting's rich textures and glowing colors, infusing everyday subjects like flowers with poetic depth. This work exemplifies his floral still lifes, where delicate blooms seem to radiate inner light, blending realism with subtle fantasy. Painted during a period of personal renewal after...
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...