1883, Odilon Redon, Fishing Village, Brittany -- Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge)
From the museum label: Redon first encountered the French region of Brittany when he was a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, and as he wrote to a critic and friend, “despite the brutal fatigue, the insane marches, I also noticed its old, unforgettable roads, and the memory was so vivid that I returned there.” At the time Redon painted this work, he was already producing the symbolist imagery for which he became famous, privileging subjectivity, fantasy, and allegory over naturalism. Though this scene appears charmingly realistic and peaceful, its emptiness should be considered in the context of the deep melancholy he wrote about in later letters describing his impression of the area. Boats such as those moored on the riverbank at right, for instance, functioned in his later art as symbols of the soul’s final journey.
1883, Odilon Redon, Fishing Village, Brittany -- Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge)
From the museum label: Redon first encountered the French region of Brittany when he was a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, and as he wrote to a critic and friend, “despite the brutal fatigue, the insane marches, I also noticed its old, unforgettable roads, and the memory was so vivid that I returned there.” At the time Redon painted this work, he was already producing the symbolist imagery for which he became famous, privileging subjectivity, fantasy, and allegory over naturalism. Though this scene appears charmingly realistic and peaceful, its emptiness should be considered in the context of the deep melancholy he wrote about in later letters describing his impression of the area. Boats such as those moored on the riverbank at right, for instance, functioned in his later art as symbols of the soul’s final journey.