Odilon Redon

Messieurs Neuville & Livier
Henri M. Petiet, Paris (acquired from the above)
Sale: Piasa, Paris, June 19, 1998, lot 41 (as Le Centaure aux coquelicots)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Druet, Odilon Redon, 1923, no. 27
Paris, Grand Palais, Exposition Rétrospective d'art Indépendant, 1926, no. 8
London, Odilon Redon, 1931, n.n.
Paris, Musée du Petit Palais, Odilon Redon, 1934, no. 38

Alec Wildenstein, Odilon Redon. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné. Portraits et figures, vol. II, Paris, 1994, no. 1241, illustrated p. 265

The work is in excellent condition. The canvas is not lined. The colors are bright and fresh. Under UV light, certain original pigments fluoresce, but no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present work, subtle in its coloring, is typical of Redon's mature style. For the first two decades of his career the artist worked almost exclusively in black and white, but around 1890 he began introducing pastel to enhance some of his previous charcoal drawings with accents of color. John Rewald noted how the rediscovery of color not only transformed the mood of Redon's works, but completely changed the range of his subject matter: "Somber visions were succeeded by happier ones... As in the past reality obesrved usually led to flights into fantasy. When Redon lived near the premises of a horse dealer, he conceived a series of works representing Pegasus... If Redon now often turned to mythology or the Bible for subjects, he did so mostly to provide his compositions with some plausible theme rather than to illustrate any specific episodes of Olympian sagas or of the Scriptures. This approach eliminated the necessity for explanatory details or attributes while permitting the artist to places imaginary figures in imaginary settings for the sake of evocative combinations" (John Rewald, Odilon Redon, Gustave Moreau, Rodolphe Bresdin (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1961, p. 39).

Undoubtedly, it was Redon's friendship with the painter Émile Bernard and the other artists belonging to the Nabis group that encouraged him to explore the use of oil paint. Even by 1910 Redon was still utilizing the medium, applying it directly onto unprimed canvas and mixing it with glue-based tempera (distemper), oil and aoline. Redon was thus able to create the effect seen in the present work, of a stained surface with little or no impasto, on which the decorative elements seem to float. Indeed, La Danse du centaure is a superb example of the "underwater" imagery Redon had become increasingly preoccupied with by 1910 (see fig. 1). The aquatic landscape which envelopes the centaur, recalls the representation of primordial realms, of sea gardens filled with fern-like forms. Like the clouds Redon loved to watch as a child with his father, the ever-changing forms associated with an underwater landscape provided him with a new vocabulary with which to create, "a sense of mystery residing in the double or tirple aspect [of things], the inkling of...  images within images, of forms that are... or will become, according to the state of mind of the beholder" (Odilon Redon, Prince of Dreams 1849-1916 (exhibition catalogue), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1994-95, p. 312).