Portrait of Madame Redon 1911

Odilon Redon made this pastel portrait of his wife, Madame Redon, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. What grabs me first is how Redon’s pastel strokes create a sort of shimmering haze around her figure. It’s like he’s not just depicting her, but also the atmosphere, the very air she inhabits. Look at the way he layers those colors. There’s this push and pull between the dark, almost brooding background and the bursts of brighter tones in her face and clothing. I love how the orange in her lap anchors the composition. Those marks are so physical, so present. You can almost feel Redon’s hand moving across the paper, building up the image layer by layer. Redon reminds me a little of another great pastelist, Mary Cassatt, but while Cassatt captured these domestic scenes with a focus on the everyday, Redon always seemed to be reaching for something more… something just beyond our grasp. He reminds us that art isn't about answers, it's about the questions that linger.