Under the spell of Nerval? The writings of Odilon Redon

Abstract

Qdilon Redon (1840–1916) occupies a central position in the field of artistic Symbolism. The imaginary worlds depicted in his black-and-white lithographs and pastel drawings foreground the sense of suggestivity and mystery redolent of a postRomantic generation at odds with Positivist ideals of reason and progress and seeking refuge in fantasy, spirituality and dream. Redon also occupies a central role within the field of late nineteenth-century literary and artistic relations — both illustrating the works of Baudelaire, Flaubert and Poe in his lithographic albums and writing literary texts, posthumously published in the form of an autobiography, À Soi-même. This literary aspect of Redon's artistic identity has recently been reviewed due to the publication of a new collection of writings by the painter. While, on the one hand, these writings reinforce the strength of Redon's literary impulse and the literary dimension of his visual ceuvre, they also highlight a hitherto neglected dimension of his artistic heritage. While Redon's debt to Baudelaire, Flaubert and, in particular, Poe, has been much documented and debated, the role played by Nerval has lacked attention and merits critical discussion. By closely analysing the manner in which Redon's' early literary texts reflect the writings of N erval, a new means of approaching the painter's visual work is revealed, one that in turn offers a possible re-evaluation of the literary precursors of artistic Symbolism.