Odilon Redon is a genre-breaking artist. A contemporary of the Impressionists, his oeuvre found its source not in reality but in his own dreams. His work has two sides, which appear to be almost opposite ends: one is daunting and grim, the other one, colourful and lively, they nevertheless merge into a kind of Symbolist magic. Odilon Redon (1840-1916) is without doubt one of the artists who was the most ahead of his time. Indifferent to Naturalism...

"I am the first consciousness of chaos collects the key "noirs" -- lithographs, etchings and charcoals -- of Odilon Redon, perhaps the most enigmatic and esoteric works in the artistic lineage that leads directly from Symbolism to Surrealism. Never previously available in a single trade volume, the majority of Redon's noirs -- over 250 illustrations -- are finally collated here, along with illuminating excerpts from the decadent texts which inspired...

Odilon Redon's oeuvre marks the threshold between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, and thus also represents the interplay between tradition and innovation. Fractures and contrasts characterize his artistic development, from the black-and-white of his early, dark lithographs and works in charcoal to the veritable explosions of color in his bright pastels and oils. Bizarre monsters appear alongside heavenly creatures in a blend of dream and...