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Large Green Vase with Mixed Flowers
Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
1910–12
Medium/Technique
Pastel on paper
Dimensions
74.3 x 62.2 cm (29 1/4 x 24 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of John T. Spaulding
Accession Number48.591
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPastels
Although Redon worked almost exclusively in black and white until he was fifty years old, he later became a bold and original colorist. He often painted macabre and supernatural subjects, and here a conventional still-life motif appears almost otherworldly, with the vase floating in ambiguous space and the colors more brilliant than any found in nature. Pastel produces deep, radiant hues, and Redon has maximized their intensity by juxtaposing complementary colors (yellow and purple, green and red), so that the flowers fairly glow.
InscriptionsLower left: ODILON REDON
Provenance1925, Etienne Bignou (dealer, b. 1891 - d. 1950), Paris. William Alexander Cargill (d. 1962), Glasgow [see note 1]. November 12, 1928, sold by De Hauke and Co., Inc., New York, to John Taylor Spaulding (b. 1870 - d. 1948), Boston; 1948, bequest of John Taylor Spaulding to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 3, 1948)
NOTES:
[1] According to De Hauke and Co. the pastel came "from the collection of M. Etienne Bignou, Paris, 1925" and "from the collection of William A. C., Esq., Glasgow." This is almost certainly the collector William Cargill.
NOTES:
[1] According to De Hauke and Co. the pastel came "from the collection of M. Etienne Bignou, Paris, 1925" and "from the collection of William A. C., Esq., Glasgow." This is almost certainly the collector William Cargill.