1896
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Breadth and Flatness of the Frontal Bone is a 1896 by Odilon Redon, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a single, pale forehead floating against a dark background. The bone looks smooth and almost glowing, like it’s lit from inside. Redon made this in a series inspired by a ghost story. The book’s eerie mood made him draw strange, half-seen things—this forehead feels like a dream you can’t quite remember. He worked with a master printer to get the soft, smoky edges just right. If you like this quiet creepiness, look up *sfumato*.
Odilon Redon was a voracious reader of contemporary literature, and such texts often influenced his art. This series was inspired by The Haunted and the Haunters, an 1859 novel by British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Redon’s prints capture the book’s mysterious tone and emphasis on the supernatural through vague but evocative imagery that sometimes borders on abstraction. By this time a seasoned expert in lithography, the artist collaborated with master printer Auguste Clot. Their combined technical skills allowed for the rich tonal variation seen here, made by turning Redon’s lithographic…
One of Redon's greatest patrons, the occultist René Philipon, commissioned this portfolio as a supplement for his French translation of Bulwer-Lytton's The Haunted and the Haunters.
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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