The vague glimmer of a head suspended in space
1891
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
sheet: 17 5/8 x 12 3/8 in. (44.8 x 31.4 cm) image: 6 7/8 x 8 3/16 in. (17.4 x 20.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1920
Accession Number
20.30.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Odilon Redon's *The Vague Glimmer of a Suspended in Space*1891) is a haunting lithograph that captures the artist's mastery of Symbolism, a movement he helped pioneer in late 19th-century France. During his "Noirs" period, Redon favored black-and-white media like lithography to evoke dreamlike visions, blending the ethereal with the uncanny. This print, with its modestly sized image of just 6 7/8 x 8 3/16 inches on a larger sheet, depicts a disembodied head floating mysteriously above hinted hills, its form dissolving into soft, glimmering ambiguity. Lithography allowed Redon to achieve subtl...
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...