Profile of a Young Girl 1900

Odilon Redon created this pastel drawing, "Profile of a Young Girl," sometime during his career. The composition is immediately striking: soft, diffused pastels blend to create an ethereal, dreamlike quality. The girl's profile, rendered with delicate lines, gazes towards the left against a backdrop of luminous greens and yellows. This juxtaposition evokes a sense of serene introspection, almost as if we're viewing a fleeting memory. Redon masterfully uses colour not just descriptively, but expressively. The contrasting cool blues and warm yellows create a tension that prevents the image from becoming overly sentimental. The texture of the pastel further enhances this effect; the visible strokes add a tactile dimension, grounding the ethereal quality in a tangible reality. This materiality disrupts any straightforward reading, inviting deeper contemplation. Ultimately, Redon’s handling of colour and texture transforms a simple portrait into a complex interplay of visual sensations and semiotic possibilities. The artwork becomes not merely a depiction, but a site of ongoing interpretation and re-interpretation.