The career of the French Symbolist artist Odilon Redon can be divided into two distinct phases: the first, from about 1870 until the 1890s, saw the artist focus almost exclusively on lithography and works on paper with charcoal, creating the ‘Noirs’, works conceived in shades of black; during the second, from the 1890s until his death in 1916, the artist shifted towards pastels and oils in vibrant colours, treating subjects such as nature, mythology and dreamlike landscapes.

This lusciously-coloured floral still life belongs to this later period, when Redon fully embraced the possibility of colour, partly inspired by the work of Paul Gauguin and the Nabis. Flowers elsewhere in Redon’s oeuvre, in mythological or literary subjects such as Ophelia among the Flowers (1905-8, National Gallery, London, fig. 1), but also as the primary focus of the painting, such as here. The work is notable for the unusual bulbous shape of the vase, the only time the artist depicted this object, possibly echoing the grotesque forms of his earlier work. However, any sense of unease is displaced by the joyful posy of flowers whose colours are exaggerated by the artist, accentuated to appear more vivid than in life. The juxtaposition of the three primary colours enhances the impact of the picture, and possibly relates to colour theory that was popularised during the 19th century.

The artist had long been fascinated by the natural world and in particular botany, having been close friends in his youth with Armand Clavaud, the curator of the botanical gardens in his hometown of Bordeaux. Here, Redon uses imagination alongside his knowledge of plants, assembling a group of flowers which would not naturally bloom at the same time – deep blue cornflower, pale blue forget-me-nots, blood red poinsettia and yellow peony. This was a recurrent trend through his floral compositions, in arrangements with varying levels of extravagance. Other examples of his bountiful floral still lifes are found in the Metropolitan Museum (fig. 2) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (fig. 3), where this work was also formerly on long-term loan.

Fig. 1 – Odilon Redon, Ophelia among the Flowers, c. 1905-8, pastel on paper, 64 x 91 cm. The National Gallery, London, NG6438

Fig. 2 – Odilon Redon, Bouquet of Flowers, c. 1900-5, pastel on paper, 80.3 x 64.1 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 56.50

Fig. 3 – Odilon Redon, Large Green Vase with Mixed Flowers, 1910-12, pastel on paper, 74.3 x 62.2 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 48.591