Provenance
Joseph Hessel [Joachim 1979]. César de Hauke, New York [Joachim 1979]. John H. Winterbotham, Chicago, by 1928 [Wildenstein 1992]. Given by Mrs. Theodora W. Brown and Mrs. Rue W. Shaw to the Art Institute, 1973.
Accession Number
45406
Medium
Pastel on blue-gray wove paper
Dimensions
63.5 × 44.3 cm (25 × 17 1/2 in.)
Classification
pastel
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Theodora W. Brown and Mrs. Rue W. Shaw in memory of Anne R. Winterbotham
Background & Context
Background Story
Odilon Redon's Ophelia (1906) is a pastel on blue-gray wove paper depicting the tragic heroine from Shakespeare's Hamlet. This late work shows Redon's turn from the dark charcoals of his noir period toward the luminous colors of his late style. Ophelia, the drowned maiden surrounded by flowers, was a popular subject in Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite art. Redon's pastel technique captures the ethereal, tragic beauty of the figure.
Cultural Impact
Redon's late pastels represent the culmination of his career, achieving a new luminosity and coloristic richness.
Why It Matters
This pastel of Ophelia captures the tragic beauty of Shakespeare's heroine with the luminous color of Redon's late style.
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)
Odilon Redon
Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man On the Body of a Fish, plate 5 of 10
Odilon Redon
Cover-Frontispiece for the Temptation of St. Anthony
Odilon Redon
Faust and Mephistopheles
Odilon Redon