Provenance
Sold to Jules Destrée (died 1936), Brussels, April 10, 1893 [Chicago 1994]. Sold, Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, April 8-9, 1952, lot 672. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro, by 1985 [Chicago 1985]; given to the Art Institute, 1990.
Accession Number
113981
Medium
Various charcoals and black pastel (a later reworking), with touches of black Conté crayon, incising, stumping, wiping, erasing, and subtractive brushwork, on pale-pink wove paper with red and blue fibers altered to a golden tone
Dimensions
52.4 × 36.8 cm (20 11/16 × 14 1/2 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Shapiro
Background & Context
Background Story
Odilon Redon's Suggestion (c. 1885, reworked later) is a charcoal and black pastel drawing on pale-pink wove paper. The title Suggestion perfectly captures Redon's artistic method: he does not describe or define but suggests, allowing the viewer's imagination to complete the image. The drawing likely shows an ambiguous figure or form emerging from the dark ground, its meaning open to interpretation. Redon uses a rich variety of techniques including incising, stumping, wiping, erasing, and subtractive brushwork.
Cultural Impact
Redon's method of suggestion was central to his symbolist aesthetic, privileging the viewer's imagination over the artist's description.
Why It Matters
This charcoal drawing exemplifies Redon's method of suggestion, the ambiguous forms emerging from darkness inviting the viewer's imagination.
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
Ophelia
Odilon Redon