Five Butterflies
c. 1912
Medium
watercolor on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 27 x 21.1 cm (10 5/8 x 8 5/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1985.64.113
Art Historical Context
Created around 1912, Odilon Redon’s *Five Butterflies* captures the French Symbolist artist’s late-career embrace of luminous color and natural motifs. After decades of working in charcoal and lithography to explore dreamlike, often somber subjects, Redon turned to watercolor and pastel in his final years, producing delicate studies of flowers and insects that radiate quiet wonder. The medium’s translucent washes allow the butterflies’ wings to appear almost weightless, their soft edges dissolving gently into the paper. Redon’s butterflies are more than botanical illustrations; they embody th...
About the Artist
Odilon Redon · 1840–1916
Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was a French Symbolist painter, printmaker, and pastellist whose visionary art bridged the 19th-century Symbolist movement and 20th-century Surrealism. Born Bertrand Redon in Bordeaux on April 20, 1840, he earned the nickname "Odilon" from his mother Odile. His father, who made his fortune in the Louisiana slave trade, conceived Odilon in New Orleans before the family retu...