1840
Birth of Bertrand-Jean Redon, known as Odilon, April 20 in Bordeaux, to the 24 street
Neuve Saint-Seurin (Today the 31st, Fernand-Marin Street). Second Son of Bertrand
Redon and Marie Guerin. The family will move little after the birth of Odilon to
go to the 26th of the Damour alleys (this house disappeared today).
1840-1851
The young Odilon is entrusted to his uncle and passes his childhood in the familial
estate of Peyrelebade, close to Listrac in the Medoc. This property is a " middle-class
vintage " whose vines that are next to those of the well-known Château
Clarke produced an excellent red wine. Peyrelebade is at the origin of a significant part of the work of Odilon Redon. It
is there, " in full solitude of the countryside " that the charcoals will
be born. The environment of this native medocian soil, full with obscure lights and
nuances woke up these strange worlds and these phantasmagoric daydreams which will
be present all its life in his work. The trees and the characters spout out the tender
and wet mucilage formed by the ground that Huysmans will describe later with its
poetic manner.
1851
School in Bordeaux.
1855
Lessons of drawing with his first Master, Stanislas Gorin, educated by Eugene Isabey
d’Héroult, specialized in the watercolor. Gorin encouraged Odilon to copy
and decompose the " works enthusiastic and impassioned of Delacroix " exposed
to the Museum of Bordeaux.
1857
Studies of architecture to please his father. He fails the examinations. He will
keep these studies a rigorous precision in his drawings of the Old Bordeaux as well
as a certain predilection for the geometrical forms. He binds friendship with the
botanist Armand Clavaud who initiates him with sciences and the literature. He passions
himself for the evolutionary thesis of the naturalist Lamarck and Darwin on the problem
of the origins, as well as in the researches of Pasteur on the microbes. Odilon Redon
also initiates himself with Clavaud about Hindu Epics. He reads for the first time,
" the Flowers of the Evil " of Baudelaire, which will inspire to him the
topic of the Fallen angel.
1860-1861
Participation in the exposures of the association of the Friends of Arts of Bordeaux
where he exposes watercolored landscapes strongly inspired by works of Gorin that
will be worth criticisms to him.
Travels in the Pyrénées in Uhart at his friend Berdoly, and to Spain.
1862
Creation of Roland à Roncevaux, one of the very first known work painted by
the artist.
1863
In Bordeaux, Rodolphe Bresdin becomes his friend and initiates him with the etching and the lithography.
Bresdin fascinates Odilon Redon and a relation Master with pupil is born. Odilon
Redon appreciates the disconcerting poetry of works visionaries of Bresdin and by
the miraculous and instinctive faculty which was his " to raise the spirit in
the area of the mystery ".
1864
To Paris, he enters the free workshop of Gérome at the Beaux-Arts schools.
1865
He begins a series of eleven “eaux-fortes” in collaboration and under the technical
direction of Bresdin. They will be drawn until 1866 at Delâtre, the appointed
printer of the company of the Aquafortistes. The influence of Delacroix and Dauzat
is very present in this style romantic and orientalist that Odilon adopted for this
series of “eaux-fortes”. He adopts also the technical characters of Bresdin in its
etchings: small sizes, cuts small, density of volumes, compositions very precise
and rich. He introduces also the famous clearly-obscure (clair-obscur) of Rembrandt.
Redon getting inspiration from Delacroix and its intense scenes of battle paints
" the Crusaders close to the Sea " which will be taken again in 1867 in
a work rediscovered after its death and which will be sold to Frizeau by Ary Leblond,
" the Crusaders " .
1866
Odilon Redon presents a succession of seven eaux-fortes, drawings and charcoal conferred
by a " glance of satisfaction " by criticisms of Bordeaux.
1868
He writes reports for the Parisian Show of 1868 for the newspaper " La Gironde
". Odilon Redon condemns in his articles the surrealism of the " local
" painters. During the summer, he remains in Barbizon where he meets Corot.
He encourages the municipality of Bordeaux to buy a series representative of the
work of Bresdin.
1870
" Roland à Roncevaux " presented at the 19th Show of Arts. At the
request of his friend, the architect Carré, he paints a large mural fresco
in a chapel at Arras. During the war, Odilon Redon like private, takes part in the
engagements on the Loire. After the war, he settles in Paris, in the district of
Montparnasse. During the summer, Odilon frequently goes back in the family property
of Peyrelebade. The majority of its charcoals will be conceived this year. He remains
with the autumn in Brittany " Pégase ", "the Fallen angel".
As from 1870, Odilon inclines towards cosmogonic developments of its works where
the organic elements are replaced by geometric standards. First trip in Brittany.
1872
Odilon Redon patronizes the lounge of literary and musical of Mrs. Rayssac and meets
there Fantin-latour and Chevanard as well as the musician Ernest Chausson and the
poet Janmot.
1874
His father dies and leaves his family with no money.
1875
During the spring, Odilon Redon studies the trees and the Underwood at Barbizon.
In July, he goes to Brittany. 1875 to 1880, it is the " most distressed period
" of his " Blacks "(Les Noirs). The topic of the Prisoner is often described in his
works, appearing sometimes behind the bars of a window or isolated in the nightmare
from a solitary daydream or an obsessing evilish hallucination.
1876
Redon is impassioned for the lithography and wants to carry out a succession of boards
inspired by Pascal. The project will not come out.
1878
First voyage in Belgium and Holland where he discovers and admires the work of the
Flemish School and Rembrandt " Rembrandt gave me always new surprises of art.
He is the great human element of the infinity of our ecstasy, he gave the moral life
to the shade. He created the clair-obscur like Phidias did the line. And all the
mysteries comprises in the modeling are from now on possible only by him, for the
new cycle of art he opened out of the pagan reason ".
Stay with Uhart. Fantin-Latour initiates Redon with the technique of paper carryforward
(papier report).
1879
First lithographic album of Odilon Redon: “In the Dream”, an album of ten boards
"collection of some varied old parts, but in which, fascinated with the new
process ", Redon made " a lithography of jet ". He is precursory of
the psychoanalysis and seeks through the dream, the descent in the unconscious that
enables him to drill the source of the inspiration and to describe its " personal
atmosphere ". Redon starts to approach the topic of the genesis egg, of the
original spore: Hiranyagarbha, symbol of the Universal Spirit among Hindus.
1880
May 1, Odilon Redon marries Camille Falte, Creole young person from the Bourbon Island met in the aristocratic salon
of Madame de Rayssac. The honeymoon takes place in Brittany and Odilon Redon makes
his first pastels. The young girl charms Redon and he admires " the Dreamer
". The couple will be happy and Camille will deal with the merchants and the
press. Contacts privileged with some young Belgian Symbolists.
1881
Exposure of his charcoals at the Vie Moderne (Modern Life) : the greeting there is
very reserved. Odilon takes as a starting point the painting of Gustave Moreau for
his cycle of Orphée. He carries out the first version of his spider with charcoal,
this hybrid of insect and human represents the nature handled and proportioned by
the human being and his science.
1882
Second exposure of his " Blacks " at the Gaulois in Paris. Publication
of his second album : “To Edgar Poe”, true homage to the poet in a series of six
lithographs. Edgar Poe at this time was translated by Mallarmé and Hennequin
who translated the Grotesque Tales. Odilon Redon binds friendship with Hennequin
and Huysmans who presents Mallarmé to him.
1883
He stays in Brittany, the Origins appear, printed by Lemercier and Co, Paris. It is an album of eight lithographs
which recalls the mystical forms of the imagination of the poets, the arrival of
the man on earth. The first seven boards evoke the creation of the world. The album
does not include any legend because " the title was already very heavy ".
He presents " Béatrix " (charcoal) at the Salon Exhibition.
1884
Some young artists call Odilon Redon for the creation of the First Free Show and
he presides the meeting where was founded the Company of the Independent Artists.
He will take part in the two following exposures. Huysmans publishes “ Wrong way”
(A Rebours) with a passage devoted to the art of Odilon Redon. His brother Léo
and his sister Marie die with little time of interval.
1885
Bresdin dies. The Homage to Goya, a group of six lithographic boards appears at Dumont,
printed by Lemercier and Co in Paris. There is not real emotional attachment with
the famous Spanish painter in this work, but it will contribute to seal a deep friendship
between Redon and Mallarmé, the painter having sent a specimen to the poet.
Mallarmé and Huysmans will not dry up eulogistic and admiring articles regard
to this album.
1886
Birth of its first son Jean on May 11th, but he dies on November 27th, this painful experiment will
leave him a " melancholic person faintness " and will lock up the artist
in a mystical crisis which will stay until the birth of its second son. Odilon Redon
exposes at the Show of the XX in Brussels with Gauguin, he will also present there
some lithographs belonging to his friends, the poet Emile Verhaeren and Jules Destrées.
He collaborates to the Wagnerian Review with Fantin-Latour. He publishes "The
Night" and is thus a prelude of the anxiety translated by the modern art about
signs announcing a world vowed to its loss.
1887
He presents "Profile of Light" (charcoal) and pays homage to his Master
by the portrait of Bresdin dedicated to "The Old age". Odilon Redon wearies
himself to expose in Bordeaux because the association of the Friends of Arts is ossified
by amateurs who wearied all the painters of the period.
The Spider is transposed in lithography and is printed with 25 specimens.
Odilon Redon carries out a frontispice for a work from Emile Verhaeven, " Idol
".
For the monodrame in five acts of Edmond Picard, The Juror, Odilon Redon composes
seven lithographs as well as one of the two engraved portraits inset. The other being
realized by Théo van Rysselbergue; each lithography, printed on imperial Japan
is protected by one curves with printed legend; printed in two colors, black and
sepia. The hard copy of this first edition which is realized in Brussels is carried
out 100 specimens on paper Holland, some other personal specimens will be also printed.
1888
First series of lithographs for the Temptation of Saint-Anthony from Flaubert. This
series includes ten lithographs. The complete cycle will include 42 lithographs in
three albums. The grandiloquent writing of Flaubert was respected and is being a
mine of inspiration for Odilon Redon who finds there a source of mysteries and some
new monsters almost infinite. Formation of the Nabis movement inspired by Gauguin
and Redon.
1889
Second album devoted to the work of Flaubert " the Temptation of Saint Anthony
": To Gustave Flaubert. This series includes/understands six lithographs. Odilon
Redon takes part in the first exposure of the artist engravers at Duran-Ruel.
He becomes acquainted with André Mellerio who presents him to Maurice Denis and to the Nabis.
Birth of his son Arï on April 30th. Arï born and is baptized on August 4th in Samois.
The " Sleep " where the hand seals the eyes, is inspired by these verses:
" Over there in the dark country where no road hug,
Idol what do you see, far from the dull sun? "
Odilon Redon carries out a frontispice for the " Routs " of Emile Verhaeven.
1890
Closer contacts with Gauguin. In February, he exposes at the show of the XX in Brussels
invited by the Expressionists. He gives up now little by little the " Blacks
" with the charcoal, with the profit of clearness of the pastel and painting,
but without rupture however. The frequentation of famous colorists like Vuillard
and Bonnard contributed to this change. Armand Clavaud commits suicide on December
1st, Odilon Redon is upset by " the inexorable ", "... his death left
me a faintness... ". " The closed Eyes " shows those who cannot open
any more if it is not on darkness. This work will be the first acquisition of the
national museums in France.
Odilon Redon carries out a frontispice for the " Black Torches " of his
friend Emile Verhaeven. He publishes in Belgium, the " Flowers of the Evil "
composed by 9 boards of “interpretations ". Each illustration remains faithful
to the baudelairian style, but the technique of impression was invented by Evely
and consists in a reproduction by copper plate. He meets Vuillard in Villeneuve-Saint-George
at Natanson’s house.
1891
Odilon Redon publishes the Dreams, dedicated to Armand Clavaud who had so much contributed
to form his thought. Jules Destrée publishes the first catalogue of Redon’s
lithographic work in Brussels. " the Day " (Lithography). After the departure
of Gauguin, Odilon Redon takes a dominating place at the Nabis group who are all
attending his lounge of the Wagram Avenue in Paris. Maurice Denis evokes the influence
of Redon on his group: " Before the influence of Cézanne, through Gauguin
and Bernard, it is the thought of Redon, by his series of lithographs and his admirable
charcoals which determined in a spiritualistic direction the evolution of art in
1890 ".
1992
Roger-Marx analyzes
the range of the symbolism of Odilon Redon in the Voltaire newspaper. 4th Exposure
of the Painters Engravers at the Duran-Ruel art gallery.
1893
Odilon Redon takes part of the show of the Free Esthetics, which succeeded the show
of the XX in Brussels. He will take part of it until 1914. Thanks to André
Bonger, the art of Redon is diffused in Holland and becomes extraordinary famous.
1894
In April, Durand-Ruel organizes a retrospective exposure of his work, where there
will be exposed in particular a lithography of the Closed Eyes (N°108).
Lithograph " Obsession ", this first state is extremely rare because Odilon had not succeeded
in improving it. Mellerio (1894, Mellerio 1923, N°128) describes it : "
Odilon Redon had drawn a kind of Marguerite de Faust, walking as hypnotized by Mephisto,
who is behind her pushing her ahead ". In the second state, definitely modified,
Mephisto is replaced by " three odd larvae ". Until this year, a wave of
Catholicism breaks on France and Redon will be somewhat influenced by it.
1995
He entrusts in a letter to Emile Bernard: "... I forsake the black more and
more. Between us, it exhausted me a lot ". Odilon Redon binds friendship with
Bonnard.
1896
Publication of two lithographic albums: " the House haunted " according
to a text of Bulwer-Lytton and a third series on the Temptation of Saint-Anthony
of Flaubert. This last series of prints is most significant with 24 boards where
Redon " seeks a simplification in the plays of line ". Interesting Anecdote,
board XVII is the only lithography of the work of the painter approaching the topic
of the Tank of Apollo. First appearance of Oannès.
1897
From April to November, Odilon Redon remains in Peyrelebade before selling the property
and leave in September to the Goa Villa, which he will call the Goya Villa, at Saint-Georges
de Didonne, on the estuary of the Gironde, close to Royan and he continues his work
of landscape designer there.
1898
Exposure at Ambroise Vollard : a success. Odilon Redon spends the summer at Saint-Georges
de Didonne. Mallarmé dies on September 9th, 1898 in Valvins.
1899
Ambroise Vollard orders the Apocalypse of Saint-John who will be the last great lithographic
serie of the painter. Twelve lithographs with frontispice compose the album. Odilon
Redon works there for the last once the Black and evolves to the lyricism of the
colors and the light. The Duran-Ruel gallery presents a " homage to Odilon Redon
" and around its works, are presented those of the Nabis group. In fact all
the neo-impressionist tendencies, synthetistes or independents are represented there.
1900
Maurice Denis paints " the Homage to Cézanne ", where Redon is represented
surrounded by young Nabis artists. In fact Redon is the elder one there, the Master,
the intercessor between the young people of the Nabis and the revolted of Aix. Vollard
wants to publish without reaching " a toss of dice that will never abolish the
chance " of Mallarmé, illustrated by Redon, which was appeared in May
1897 in the Cosmopolis review. In fact, Redon and Mallarmé worked together
all the winter of 1897-1898 to leave this collection made up of a series of four
lithography and Vollard was the publisher. Mallarmé dies on September 9th,
1898 and Redon stopped his work. The first three boards were sold in separate sheets
and the fourth was lost.
A sanguine of “the Closed Eyes” from the Pontremoli collection is exposed in Paris
at the centennial of the French Art (N°1281). Exhibition of Odilon Redon at the
Duran-Ruel gallery.
1901
Odilon Redon binds friendship with Gustave Fayet, originally from the area of Béziers
and coming from a family of rich winegrowers. Vuillard remains with Odilon Redon
at Saint-Georges de Didonne. He carries out decorative Paintings for Ernest Chausson
in Paris, and remains in Burgundy at the Castle of his friend, Robert de Domecy.
He takes part in the Show of Free Esthetics in Brussels and the exhibition of the
National Company of the Beaux-Arts school in Paris.
1903
Odilon Redon is introduced by his friend of childhood the painter Charles Lacoste
to Gabriel Frizeau. A sincere friendship is born between the painter and the patron
from Bordeaux impassioned from art and beautiful letters.
1904
A room is entirely devoted to him at the Autumn Show in the Petit Palais of Paris,
comprising 62 works. The Museum of Luxembourg in Paris acquires " the Closed
Eyes ". Inspired by the model Alphonsine Zabé, Redon approaches since
January, the topic of naked females with Eve where contour wraps the nudity of the
model ".
Women "...” I see in them all the woman without finding a woman there, and this
exquisite...”. "Baigneuse".
1906
Autumn Show at Paris.
1907
Odilon Redon, trying to repurchase Peyrelebade, organizes a great auction sale of
his works at the auction house of Drouot. Personal exposure at the Kunstzaal Reckers
of Rotterdam.
1908
In April, Odilon Redon travels to Venice and in Italy, accompanied by his wife, his
son and Arthur Fontaine. He produces his first paperboards of tapestry for the Gobelin
Manufacture at the request of Gustave Geffroy. He pays homage to Bresdin with the
Autumn Show and writes the forewords of the catalogue " Stained glass "
(Frizeau collection)
1909
He spends the summer tin Bièvres (southwest suburb of Paris) after the death
of Juliette Dodu,
the stepsister of his wife. Not having been able to repurchase the villa of his Sister-in-law,
Redon rents a beautiful villa, the Juliette’s villa where from now, he will spend
his summers. In Bièvres, the painter finds calms it, plenitude and starts
again to paint large trees.
Gustave Fayet acquires one of the last versions of the " Tank of Apollo ",
topic taken again on the panel " the Day " of the Abbey of Fontfroide.
1910
He decorates the library of the Cistercian Abbey of Fontfroide for Gustave Fayet.
The Abbey was until the 18th century the arts center of Languedoc area, then put
at the abandonment. Arï makes its military service in Versailles. Redon is painting
many butterflies as those on the panel " the Night ". They are signs of
metamorphoses and Redon was pleased to make burst the chrysalis in " winged
flowers of lights ". The painter also likes himself to sow his flowers, and
then be able to compose some sumptuous bouquets that he will paint. Redon finishes
some paperboards of furniture for the manufacture of the Gobelins.
1911
Weaving of the first models by Odilon Redon.
1913
The Armory Show presents his works to the American continent in New York (International
exhibition of Modern Art), Chicago and Boston. André Mellerio publishes the
catalogue of his work engraved and lithographed.
1914
Arï is mobilized for the War. Homage to Alsace invaded and hurt: Odilon Redon
who fought in 1870 take party against Germany violently.
1915
Paintings by Odilon Redon at the John Herron Art Institute of Indianapolis and Second
Exhibition of Contemporary French Art at the Caroll gallery of New York.
1916
Odilon Redon dies on July 6th, in Paris. The " Virgin ", an oil on canvas
is left unfinished.