Centaur visant les Nues 1895

Odilon Redon created this lithograph, Centaur visant les Nues, in a period when the Symbolist movement was turning inward, exploring dreams, myths, and the darker sides of the human psyche. Redon, working in France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, found himself amidst shifting cultural values, grappling with new ideas about psychology and the unconscious. Here, a centaur is depicted drawing back an arrow, poised to pierce the heavens. What does it mean to be forever caught between two worlds: the human and the animal? Is Redon suggesting that we, like the centaur, are creatures of both reason and instinct, forever reaching for something beyond our grasp? Redon once said, “My drawings inspire, and are not to be defined.” This piece invites us to consider the narratives we project onto mythological figures like the centaur, and how these narratives reflect our own aspirations, struggles, and the eternal quest for meaning.