Angel in Chains 1875

Odilon Redon painted 'Angel in Chains' using oil on an unknown support, during a period of great social change in France. The figure of the angel is one that has fascinated artists and writers for centuries. Here the angel is androgynous, contemplative and defeated. In chains, the angel is symbolic of the restrictions placed on free-thinking individuals by the rigid social conventions of late 19th-century France. The colour palette, with its sombre reds and browns, evokes a sense of foreboding, of the societal upheavals that would lead to the First World War. Redon was part of a generation questioning existing social norms and critiquing academic institutions of art that propagated those norms. Understanding art requires an appreciation of these social conditions. Historical archives and contemporary publications can give us a better understanding of the social and institutional contexts that shaped artworks like this.