Cleveland Museum of Art

Melancholy

Date

c. 1868

Medium

graphite on beige wove paper

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Odilon Redon grew up near the massive Pyrénées mountains in southern France and their image recurred throughout his work. In a series of drawings made during the 1870s, Redon used the craggy surface and infinite reach of his native landscape to evoke a sense of solitude and isolation. The woman seen here, for example, leans forward and casts her eyes downward as if in resignation. Redon incorporated fantastical details into his mountainous landscape, including a small creature seen faintly directly above the woman and a profile that vaguely appears in the shadows next to her.

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