Cleveland Museum of Art

Closed Eyes

Odilon Redon

Date

1890

Medium

lithograph on China paper laid on wove paper

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Odilon Redon explored the image of an androgynous figure with closed eyes in several of his works. He saw the expression as representative of a meditative shift inward and away from the constraints of modern society. By drawing lightly on a lithographic stone, Redon made faint lines that subtly modeled and shaded the head and shoulders while contrasting with the more sketchily drawn, inexplicable landscape in the foreground. Part of the Print Club of Cleveland’s early gift of lithographs by Redon to the museum, this impression is a unique trial proof, printed while the artist was collaborating with master printer Becquet to assess the composition’s progress. Despite its androgynous look, this figure has been identified as a portrait of Redon´s wife, Camille Falte.

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