| Artist: | Redon, Odilon |
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|---|---|---|
| Title of Work: | Silence | |
| Date of Work: | c. 1911 | |
| Nationality: | French | |
| Context: | The Turn of the Century | |
| Movement: | Symbolism | |
| Medium: | ||
| Proto Surrealism Symbolism: "putting the logic of the visible at the service of the invisible . . ." Subject: a face with eyes nearly closed and fingers held up over the mouth seems to retreat beyond the picture through an opening in space shaped like a disembodied eye; focus is on vision, not of the outer eye so much as the inner eye. Painted shortly after his wife's illness, in which she almost died. Style: Redon is now working with color, but he keeps it deliberately vague and mysterious rather than defined, just as he did in his lithographs. The space suggests a mystery rather than anything measurable. Not of this world; a "picture from the reverse side of the eye," to quote Munch. Context: Symbolism is a movement that is dedicated to going beyond the mere imitation of nature; "go to nature," Gauguin advised, "but dream in front of it." Symbolism pushes past the material, physical world of nature that characterizes Realism and the optical reality of Impressionism to get at a more subjective view (nature seen through a temperament); as Gauguin said, Impressionism "neglected the mysterious centers of thought." Interested in the visionary and dreams as a source for creative inspiration; influenced by Symoblist poets like Mallarme, who was the first to write with blank spaces in his text, indicating the limits of words . . . Deliberately ambiguous rather than defined, hinting at the invisible (the unconscious) and things that cannot be put into words. Finding new symbols for a modern age; images that correspond to one's inner feelings rather than external environment. | ||
