Provenance
Sold to Count Giuseppe Primoli (d. 1927), Rome, before January 1886 [Chicago 1994]. Sold, Hôtel des Ventes, Enghien, October 28, 1979, lot 114. Sold, Sotheby’s, London, March 26, 1980, lot 164. Sold by Wolgang Wittrock, Düsseldorf, to the Art Institute, 1982.
Accession Number
96841
Medium
Various charcoals and gouache, with pastel and black chalk, and touches of stumping and erasing, on pale-pink wove paper with red and blue fibers altered to a golden tone, laid down on gray wove paper
Dimensions
36.8 × 35.7 cm (14 1/2 × 14 1/16 in.)
Classification
pastel
Credit Line
Margaret Day Blake, Mr. and Mrs. Henry C.Woods, and William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowments
Background & Context
Background Story
Odilon Redon's Melancholy (1876) is a mixed-media work combining various charcoals, gouache, pastel, and black chalk on pale-pink wove paper. The subject of melancholy was a central theme in Symbolist art, representing the artist's sensitivity and the burden of consciousness. Redon's figure of Melancholy likely appears as a solitary, brooding presence, the rich variety of media creating a complex surface that mirrors the complexity of the emotion.
Cultural Impact
Redon's Melancholy is a key work of Symbolist art, giving visual form to the quintessential mood of the fin-de-siecle.
Why It Matters
This mixed-media depiction of Melancholy captures the introspective mood characteristic of Symbolist art.
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