Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon was born in 1840 in Bordeaux, a large city in southwestern France. He is said to have spent a lonely childhood, having been sent out to be raised by foster parents when very young. Around the age of twenty he met the botanist Armand Clavaud and became fascinated by the world seen under a microscope. The influence of botany can be seen in his later prints.

He settled in Paris in 1872 and in 1879 published his first album of lithographs, In the Dream. Although he belonged to the same generation as the Impressionists, he is regarded as having followed a path of his own, continuing to depict a world of fantasy, dreams, and the unconscious rather than effects of light or city scenes.

From around 1890 his style changed greatly and he began to use rich color. He excelled at color in oils, watercolors, and pastels alike, and is known for pastels in which flowers in vases are painted vividly. He received the Legion of Honor in 1904 and died in Paris in 1916. In Japan, the Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu holds many of his works.