Symbolic Head

Cleveland Museum of Art

Symbolic Head

Odilon RedonLinkedCulture matchlcp-4742ddd84007

Date
c. 1890
Medium
oil on paper mounted on canvas
Culture
France, 19th century
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID
154283

One of Redon’s favorite themes was a head depicted in profile, sometimes separated from the body to symbolize the spirit released from the material world. It also suggests a metaphor for abandoning physical reality for the inner realm of dreams, fantasy, and poetic reverie. This painting conveys the idea of inward-turning vision by framing the head in a series of collapsing rectangles. Conservation analysis confirms that the figure is a woman wearing a helmet and holding a green staff in her right hand. Symbolism was a reaction against Realism and Redon is one of the most important artists affiliated with this movement. The symbolist painters used mystical dreamlike images that were highly personal in their work.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund
Provenance
Before 1925: Possibly Gustave Fayet [1865-1925], Béziers | Until 1954: (Jacques Dubourg [1897-1981], Paris, sold to Knoedler & Co.) | 1954-1956: (Knoedler & Co., New York, sold to Mildred Andrews Putnam) | 1956-1984: Mildred Andrews Putnam [1890/92-1984], Cleveland, OH, by descent to her son, Peter Andrews Putnam | 1984-1987: Peter Andrews Putnam [1925-1987], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1988-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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