Odilon Redon

The oeuvre of Odilon Redon (1840 1916) marks the threshold between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and thus represents the interplay between tradition and innovation. Fractures and contrasts characterize his artistic development from the black and white of his early, dark lithographs and works in charcoal to the downright explosions of color in his bright pastels and oils. Bizarre monsters appear alongside heavenly creatures in a blend of dream and nightmare, nature and vision. Inclined to internalization, the mythic, sacred, and biological motifs in Redon s works take on a sense of the mystical, owing to both the subject and the aesthetic aspects of color and form. Greatly admired by contemporaries such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, Redon influenced artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp as well as the Surrealists. The catalogue presents the artist s brilliant ideas and his body of work in all of its artistic heterogeneity.
Exhibition schedule: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, February 2 May 18, 2014

Das Werk Odilon Redons (1840-1916) markiert die Schwelle vom 19. zum 20. Jahrhundert und somit das Wechselspiel zwischen Tradition und Innovation. Brüche und Kontraste prägen seine künstlerische Entwicklung vom Schwarz-Weiß früher dunkler Kohlearbeiten und Lithografien bis zu regelrechten Farbexplosionen in hellem Pastell und Öl. Bizarre Monster treten neben himmlische Geschöpfe Traum und Albtraum, Natur und Vision verschmelzen miteinander. In der Tendenz zur Verinnerlichung erfahren mythische, sakrale und biologische Motive in Redons Arbeiten eine Verrätselung, die sich nicht nur dem Sujet, sondern auch ästhetischen Aspekten von Farbe und Form verdankt. Von Zeitgenossen wie Paul Cézanne und Edgar Degas hoch geschätzt, beeinflusste Redon Künstler wie Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse und Marcel Duchamp sowie die Surrealisten. Der Katalog stellt die großen Ideen des Künstlers und sein inhaltlich wie technisch-materiell vielfältiges uvre dar.
Ausstellung: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel 2.2. 18.5.2014

Die geheimnisvolle Welt eines Hauptrepräsentanten des Symbolismus und Begründers der Moderne

The oeuvre of Odilon Redon (1840-1916) marks the threshold between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and thus represents the interplay between tradition and innovation. Fractures and contrasts characterize his artistic development-from the black and white of his early, dark lithographs and works in charcoal to the downright explosions of color in his bright pastels and oils. Bizarre monsters appear alongside heavenly creatures in a blend of dream and nightmare, nature and vision. Inclined to internalization, the mythic, sacred, and biological motifs in Redon's works take on a sense of the mystical, owing to both the subject and the aesthetic aspects of color and form. Greatly admired by contemporaries such as Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, Redon influenced artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp as well as the Surrealists. The catalogue presents the artist's brilliant ideas and his body of work in all of its artistic heterogeneity. Exhibition schedule: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, February 2-May 18, 2014