Homage to Leonardo da Vinci 1908

Odilon Redon made this homage to Leonardo da Vinci with oil on canvas, at an unknown date. Isn’t it funny how the title gives us a starting point? I see this work as a loving push-pull between representation and abstraction. The colours are muted, a pastel haze, and yet there is a vividness, a dreamlike quality, that makes the scene alive. The angel figure seems to emerge from the foliage, her serene face offering a moment of calm amongst the chaos. Look at the way the darks really make the lights pop. That big black circle next to her really gets me going, its almost an eye, but more like a void, a question mark. Redon wasn’t scared of ambiguity, and I see that same spirit in my friend Philip Guston, who mined a similar seam of surreal cartoonish imagery. Ultimately, art is a conversation.