Cleveland Museum of Art

Christ

Odilon RedonLinkedCulture matchlcp-4742ddd84007

Date

1887

Medium

lithograph

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Object ID

133681

Odilon Redon's unusual depiction of a melancholy, beardless Christ uses the dramatic tonality of lithography to convey the figure's suffering. Redon drew parallel lines with a lithographic crayon and then scraped some of the material away to depict the angular forms of an oversized crown of thorns and the surrounding dreamlike space. Redon experimented with lithography and preferred it for its ability to produce the rich and evocative black seen here. Odilon Redon believed that black was an agent of the spirit and created nearly 200 monochromatic lithographs that evoke a mysterious and dreamlike world.

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