1885
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Strange Juggler is a 1885 by Odilon Redon, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a floating head with huge eyes, juggling three glowing balls against a dark, empty background. Redon made this in 1885, part of a set of prints called *Homage to Goya*. He was trying out lithography—a way to draw on stone and print the image—and wanted to honor Goya’s weird, dreamy style. The juggler feels like a ghost from a half-remembered dream. If you like this eerie, floating world, look up the technique called *sfumato*—it’s how artists soften edges to make things look hazy and mysterious.
This series is one of many that Odilon Redon created throughout his career. Nearly two-thirds of his lithographs took the form of portfolios—prints connected conceptually by a theme or narrative and physically by a folder or binding. Such works were often dispersed over time, but Cleveland was fortunate to acquire several complete sets with their original covers during the 1920s. Dating from Redon’s early experimentation with lithography, Homage to Goya was intended as a tribute to 18th-century Spanish master Francisco de Goya, whose interest in dreams and the subconscious influenced Redon.…
This portfolio was published in an edition of 50, one of which Redon sent to poet Stéphane Mallarmé soon after Redon became a frequent participant in a literary salon held regularly at Mallarmé's home.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Born Bertrand-Jean Redon on 20 April 1840 in Bordeaux, the artist adopted the name Odilon from his mother, Marie-Odile.
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