Trees
Odilon Redon
French, 1840–1916
c. 1865-68
A delicate pencil-on-colored-paper study in which Redon records the tree’s form and presence, seeking not botanical exactitude but a quiet, inward mood emanating from trunk and branches.
The eye is struck by how soft graphite smudges and precise hatched lines make the trunk feel palpable while the thin branches and tiny leaves dissolve into the pale, misty ground of the paper, so the tree seems to appear and vanish at once.
Executed in the 1860s, the sheet shows Redon moving beyond straightforward observation toward a poetic, suggestive art—using toned paper and subtle contrasts to bridge 19th‑century realism and the symbolic, dreamlike imagery he later pursued.
Medium
Pencil on colored paper
Dimensions
16 3/4 x 11 5/8" (42.5 x 29.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of The Ian Woodner Family Collection
Accession
273.2000
Palette
Exhibitions
