COLOUR STUDY

Colour palette

#EDDDC3
#E2D3B9
#EBDBC1
#F1E0C6
#CBBEA7
#E7D6BD

Approximate colour proportions

#EDDDC320.3%
#E2D3B919.3%
#EBDBC116.5%
#F1E0C615.8%
#CBBEA714.5%
#E7D6BD13.6%

Estimated from six colour groups in the museum image, including visible paper or borders. Reproduction and lighting affect the result; these are image-area proportions, not pigment measurements.

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗

France, 19th century · c. 1868

Melancholy

Odilon Redon

Date: c. 1868
Medium: graphite on beige wove paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 32.1 x 22 cm (12 5/8 x 8 11/16 in.)
Country / context: France
Movement / tradition: European and American art
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Attribution / role: Museum attribution
Pathway: European and American art ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

Odilon Redon grew up near the massive Pyrénées mountains in southern France and their image recurred throughout his work. In a series of drawings made during the 1870s, Redon used the craggy surface and infinite reach of his native landscape to evoke a sense of solitude and isolation. The woman seen here, for example, leans forward and casts her eyes downward as if in resignation.

Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

Place in the artist’s career

Compare the 1868 graphite landscape, the 1893 lithograph and the 1916 floral pastel. Dark marks can create an imaginative space through tone alone; dry coloured pastel gives a different intensity and texture. Track how a recognisable motif becomes suggestive through cropping, scale and its surrounding atmosphere.