Le Christ du silence 1890 - 1907

Editor: We're looking at Odilon Redon’s "Le Christ du silence," created between 1890 and 1907, a work done in charcoal and pastel. The hazy rendering gives the subject a dreamlike quality, but his expression…it's heavy, burdened. What pulls you in when you look at this, what does it make you consider? Curator: Redon always invites us into the landscapes of the mind, doesn’t he? It's funny you say dreamlike. What's curious is how the work feels at once ephemeral, due to its haziness, as you put it, but grounded in raw emotional truth. He renders Christ lost in thought, almost painfully so. The silence isn't peaceful, it’s… pregnant. What do you make of the colours surrounding his form? That halo, especially. Editor: The yellow halo set against that almost bruised blue feels like a visual representation of internal conflict. There is the holy gold battling with the sadness. Is Redon commenting on faith and doubt here? Curator: Maybe less commenting, and more *feeling*. Symbolism was about diving deep, trusting intuition, remember? He uses Christian iconography as a vocabulary to express the human condition: suffering, questioning, searching for meaning. What is compelling, to me, is not what it 'means' to be the messiah. Rather, he depicts, using this figure, a tangible humanity that can also reflect, perhaps, an echo of the divine. What are we if not thinking, questioning things to find an individual expression, an answer of some sort. I don't know. I just know I keep feeling things looking at this. What about you? Editor: It makes me wonder about the silences we all carry and how artists like Redon give those silences a voice, or at least a face. It is quite an intimate perspective. Curator: Precisely! It's a beautiful invitation, I think, to acknowledge those quiet struggles within ourselves, the ones we often keep hidden. What an honest depiction and a great work to know.