Odilon Redon

A visionary outlier among his 19th-century French contemporaries, Odilon Redon (1840–1916) is the undisputed master of Symbolist mystery. While the Impressionists captured the external world, Redon looked inward, crafting a unique visual language of dreams, myths, and the subconscious. His career is defined by two distinct phases: the early "noirs"—haunting charcoals and lithographs like The Smiling Spider and The Eye Like a Strange Balloon—and his later explosion into radiant color with pastels and oils.

Redon’s work acts as the vital bridge between Romanticism and Surrealism, influencing Marcel Duchamp and André Breton. Today, masterpieces like The Cyclops and Ophelia among the Flowers are cornerstones of major permanent collections, including the Musée d’Orsay, MoMA, and the Getty.