Pandora 1910 - 1912

Curator: This is Odilon Redon's "Pandora," painted sometime between 1910 and 1912. Editor: The vertical format and figure placed off-center immediately strike me. It lends the scene a strange tension. You have this mythical woman almost overwhelmed by this ambiguous landscape that’s been created by visible marks of paint. It doesn't quite settle. Curator: Precisely. Redon frequently explored themes of mythology, tapping into their archetypal power to explore universal human anxieties and desires. Pandora herself embodies curiosity and its potentially devastating consequences. The box she holds...a vessel for both evils and hope. Editor: I’m struck by the object she's holding; is that wooden? It seems like a chest or a strongbox rather than a delicate vase. The rough texture contrasts dramatically with the flowing drape of her garment. There’s such deliberate emphasis on material divergence in that singular space. What do you make of it? Curator: A strongbox suggests the entrenchment and endurance of these primordial forces once unleashed. Redon, steeped in symbolism, was more interested in emotional and psychological resonance than accurate depictions of mythological paraphernalia. Editor: Absolutely. There's a painterly quality to it all. The blurring between background and foreground is intriguing. Is it on canvas? You can see how Redon has handled the material to create depth and emotion, smudging certain aspects. I find myself interested in the materiality here. Curator: Note how her downcast gaze directs our own towards the contents of that fateful box. It invites contemplation about what intangible forces exist once something material has been unlocked and let free into our material realm. Editor: It makes you consider what Redon himself sought to release by choosing such an ethereal treatment to a well-trodden subject matter. Looking at it more broadly, it evokes so much, but it’s only with its materials. Very captivating. Curator: Indeed, and through his symbols, Redon offers a window into the timeless struggle between knowledge and innocence, chaos and order—represented not just by form but in their raw form and potential.