Everywhere Eyeballs are Aflame

Redon employed lithography to replicate the rich, velvety blacks of charcoal drawing, a medium he favored for its capacity to convey depth and mystery. Through layered ink and careful tonal control, he achieved a sense of atmospheric density, where forms seem to emerge from or dissolve into shadow. The technique allowed him to manipulate light and darkness with subtlety, enhancing the otherworldly quality of the scenes without relying on line or detail.

Created in the 1880s, this portfolio was one of three Redon produced in response to Flaubert’s novel. Though he considered the prints successful in capturing the novel’s surreal essence, they received little critical recognition during his lifetime. Their abstract, non-narrative nature challenged contemporary expectations of illustration, leading to confusion among viewers unfamiliar with Symbolist aesthetics.

Redon’s work emerged during a period when artists increasingly turned inward, seeking to express emotion and subconscious experience rather than depict external reality. Influenced by literary Symbolism and the rise of psychologized art, he aligned himself with writers and thinkers who valued suggestion over clarity. His prints reflect a broader cultural shift toward exploring the unseen, dreams, fears, and metaphysical states.

Though initially overlooked, these prints later gained recognition as early examples of Surrealist sensibility, anticipating the exploration of the unconscious in 20th-century art. Redon’s use of tone and symbolic imagery influenced generations of artists seeking to convey psychological depth without literal representation. His approach to lithography expanded the medium’s expressive potential beyond traditional illustration.