Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009418Symbolic Head
by Odilon Redon
About the Artwork
One of Redon’s favorite themes was a head depicted in profile, sometimes separated from the body to symbolize the spirit released from the material world. It also suggests a metaphor for abandoning physical reality for the inner realm of dreams, fantasy, and poetic reverie. This painting conveys the idea of inward-turning vision by framing the head in a series of collapsing rectangles. Conservation analysis confirms that the figure is a woman wearing a helmet and holding a green staff in her right hand.
Inscriptions
Signed lower left: odilon redon
Provenance
Before 1925: Possibly Gustave Fayet [1865-1925], Béziers Until 1954: (Jacques Dubourg [1897-1981], Paris, sold to Knoedler & Co.) 1954-1956: (Knoedler & Co., New York, sold to Mildred Andrews Putnam) 1956-1984: Mildred Andrews Putnam [1890/92-1984], Cleveland, OH, by descent to her son, Peter Andrews Putnam 1984-1987: Peter Andrews Putnam [1925-1987], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1988-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989). Odilon Redon - Le souci de l'absolu (Search for the Absolute). Shimane Art Museum, Matsue-shi, Japan (August 2-September 23, 2002); Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Gifu City, Japan (organizer) (October 8-December 8, 2002).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
- Date
- c. 1890
- Medium
- oil on paper mounted on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 69 x 54.5 x 7.5 cm (27 3/16 x 21 7/16 x 2 15/16 in.); Unframed: 53.3 x 38 cm (21 x 14 15/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund
- Accession no.
- 1988.91
More by Odilon Redon in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009418
Powered by Art Trackers