Provenance
Sold by the artist to Andries Bonger (1861–1936), July 9, 1894 [Chicago 1994]; by descent to his wife, Mme. Bonger (née Baroness Francoise van der Borch van Verwolde; 1887–1975), Almen, The Netherlands, until at least June 1959 [London 1959]. Sold by Peter H. Deitsch (1924-1970), New York, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, November 14, 1962, [invoice]; given to the Art Institute, 1995.
Accession Number
142559
Medium
Various charcoals, with wiping, stumping, erasing, and incising, on cream wove paper altered to a golden tone
Dimensions
40 × 32 cm (15 3/4 × 12 5/8 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Credit Line
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Background & Context
Background Story
Odilon Redon's Faust and Mephistopheles (1880) is a charcoal drawing depicting the legendary scholar and the devil from Goethe's drama. The two figures emerge from the dark charcoal ground, rendered with Redon's characteristic subtlety.
Cultural Impact
Redon's Faust illustrations are among the most powerful visual interpretations of Goethe's drama.
Why It Matters
This charcoal drawing captures the fateful encounter between Faust and Mephistopheles with mystery and atmosphere.
Related Artworks
And in the Very Disk of the Sun Lights the Face of Jesus Christ, plate 10 from The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1st series)
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Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man On the Body of a Fish, plate 5 of 10
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Cover-Frontispiece for the Temptation of St. Anthony
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Ophelia
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