Animals of the Sea 1910

Odilon Redon conjured "Animals of the Sea," on a small canvas using oil paints. It’s a fever dream of textures and colours. I love to imagine Redon making this, letting the image rise to the surface. Did he begin with those spectral floating jellyfish? What about that craggy rock in the bottom left corner? I'm drawn to how the colours—pink, ochre, light blue, and fleshy red—create depth and dimension. Painting is all about the haptic, that sense of touch. Think about his brushstrokes! They’re so light and free, giving the image a sense of movement. See how the painting is full of little dots and dashes? It's as though he's inviting us to slow down, to really look and enter the painting. It reminds me of the way Monet captured light, but with a touch of the bizarre. Artists are always talking to each other, across time, in a visual language that is felt as much as it is seen. A painting like this embraces open-endedness. What do you see here?