Butterflies
Odilon Redon
French, 1840–1916
c. 1910
An oil on canvas in which Odilon Redon renders a private, dreamlike vision of butterflies and flowers, using color and texture to conjure a poetic, otherworldly scene.
You'd first notice the pale green-blue sky and soft cloud that set off oversized, jewel-toned butterflies and luminous blossoms hovering above rocky ground, creating a quiet, suspended hush.
A late Symbolist work, it marks Redon's confident turn from monochrome fantasies to saturated color and helped pave the way for modern art's embrace of subjective, dreamlike imagery.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
29 1/8 x 21 5/8" (73.9 x 54.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Werner E. Josten in memory of her husband
Accession
454.1964
Palette
Exhibitions
