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拍品專文
Fleurs dans un vase bleu is one of the celebrated pictures of flowers with which Odilon Redon made his name, as though for a second time, in the latter part of his career. Replacing the dark, foreboding atmosphere of his Noirs, his earlier works of Symbolist fantasy, the flowers came as colourful and poetic flights of joyous colour. Here, the reds, oranges and blues appear to explode like fireworks bursting from the vase, an effect that is only heightened by the almost Pointillist effect of some parts of the background.
It was from the late Nineteenth Century onwards that Redon turned his attention to flowers, presenting them, as here, in an almost oneiric manner. There is little of Naturalism or even Impressionism in Fleurs dans un vase bleu. While Redon had introduced colour and nature into his works during this period, as opposed to the earlier Noirs, there remained nonetheless a mysterious atmosphere. Redon himself described this when writing in 1905 in terms which revealed his own enthusiasm for these floral compositions, as well as their unique character:
'I am still wrapped up in flowers, underwater dramas, among those beings which might exist. Painting, with its limitless resources, is an infinitely enjoyable art. I believe that I can make continual progress with it, right to the end [of my life]. The results I achieve at the moment torment me much less’ (Redon, quoted in M. Stevens, 'Redon’s Artistic and Critical Position’, pp. 281-304, D. Druick (ed.), Odilon Redon, exh.cat., Chicago, Amsterdam & London, 1994, p. 288).
A couple of years later, he was able to write that, 'at the moment everyone is gripped by my flowers’ (Redon, quoted ibid., p. 291). This is a mark of the success and impact that they had. This success relied upon the ambiguous nature of these depictions of flora, which often seemed alien or even impossible, mysterious fantastical blooms that sometimes appeared more tethered to the world of the imagination than to that of everyday life. As one writer would explain,
'M. Odilon Redon is a painter of flowers as they are seen in dreams. They do not flourish under the gardener’s hose, under the rays of the sun. Their middays are moonlight, and water from unhallowed springs has given them the strength to live. They come from our nightmares and... from Oriental legends’ (Flament, quoted ibid., p. 297).
It was from the late Nineteenth Century onwards that Redon turned his attention to flowers, presenting them, as here, in an almost oneiric manner. There is little of Naturalism or even Impressionism in Fleurs dans un vase bleu. While Redon had introduced colour and nature into his works during this period, as opposed to the earlier Noirs, there remained nonetheless a mysterious atmosphere. Redon himself described this when writing in 1905 in terms which revealed his own enthusiasm for these floral compositions, as well as their unique character:
'I am still wrapped up in flowers, underwater dramas, among those beings which might exist. Painting, with its limitless resources, is an infinitely enjoyable art. I believe that I can make continual progress with it, right to the end [of my life]. The results I achieve at the moment torment me much less’ (Redon, quoted in M. Stevens, 'Redon’s Artistic and Critical Position’, pp. 281-304, D. Druick (ed.), Odilon Redon, exh.cat., Chicago, Amsterdam & London, 1994, p. 288).
A couple of years later, he was able to write that, 'at the moment everyone is gripped by my flowers’ (Redon, quoted ibid., p. 291). This is a mark of the success and impact that they had. This success relied upon the ambiguous nature of these depictions of flora, which often seemed alien or even impossible, mysterious fantastical blooms that sometimes appeared more tethered to the world of the imagination than to that of everyday life. As one writer would explain,
'M. Odilon Redon is a painter of flowers as they are seen in dreams. They do not flourish under the gardener’s hose, under the rays of the sun. Their middays are moonlight, and water from unhallowed springs has given them the strength to live. They come from our nightmares and... from Oriental legends’ (Flament, quoted ibid., p. 297).