ODILON REDON | Vase de fleurs avec branches de pommiers en fleurs

Marcel Kapferer, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York (acquired from the above in 1944)
Mr. & Mrs. William Goetz, Los Angeles (acquired from the above in 1947 and sold: Sotheby's, London, October 14, 1970, lot 13)
Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 15, 1983, lot 28
Doris Duke, New Jersey (acquired at the above sale)
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, New York (a bequest from the above and sold: Christie's, New York, May 4, 2004, lot 11)
Private Collection, United States (acquired at the above sale and sold: Christie's, New York, November 13, 2015, lot 1286)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Los Angeles, University of Los Angeles Art Gallery, Los Angeles Collectors, 1953, n.n.
San Francisco, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. William Goetz, 1959, no. 49, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Flowers)
Richmond, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1973, n.n. 

Klaus Berger, Odilon Redon, Phantasie und Farbe, Cologne, 1964, no. 276, illustrated p. 201
"Conseils aux acheteurs, Les Premiers chefs ­d'oeuvre vendus cette année," in World Collector's Annuary, vol. XXII, no. 226, Delft, 1970, illustrated p. 135
Peter Mitchell, European Flower Painters, London, 1973, no. 298, illustrated p. 209
Robin Gibson, Flower Painting, Oxford, 1976, illustrated in color pl. 46
Alec Wildenstein, Odilon Redon, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné, vol. III, Paris, 1996, no. 1397, illustrated p. 43 

Please contact the Impressionist & Modern department at 212-606-7360 for a condition report prepared by a third-party conservator
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.

Odilon Redon’s floral compositions are the apogee of his oeuvre. While these still lifes were thematically and technically less obscure than Redon's Noirs, they still exemplified the artist’s affinity with the Symbolist movement and his interest in the mystical. As Klaus Berger writes: “They are spiritual in their own way, just as much transformation of the phenomenal world, only in a different direction; they no longer avoid sensory perception but permeate it” (Klaus Berger, Odilon Redon: Fantasy and Colour, New York, 1965, p. 36). Ethereal in composition, the works place wild, colorful bouquets and branches in undefined, dream-like spaces, constituting a strikingly new approach for the artist.

This work boasts distinguished provenance, having passed through several of the greatest American art collections of the twentieth century. Between 1947-70, the work was owned by William Goetz, a Hollywood producer who co-founded the company now known as 20th Century Fox. Upon its sale in 1970, the work entered the collection of Paul Mellon, then at the height of amassing his unparalleled collection. In 1983, the work was purchased at auction by Doris Duke, the sole heiress to the Duke family's tobacco fortune, who was also one of the earliest philanthropists giving financial support to HIV/AIDS research.