And a Large Bird, Descending from the Sky, Hurls Itself against the Topmost Point of Her Hair

And a Large Bird, Descending from the Sky, Hurls Itself against the Topmost Point of Her Hair

Odilon Redon, 1888

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Artist: Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
Medium: Lithograph
Size: Image: 19 x 16 cm (7 1/2 x 6 5/16 in.)
Culture: France, 19th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This portfolio is one of three made by Odilon Redon inspired by avant-garde writer Gustave Flaubert’s novel The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874). Captivated by the book’s fantastical account of moralizing tests encountered by a hermit in the desert, Redon executed charcoal drawings and attempted to evoke that medium’s dense blackness in his lithographs. Based on the text’s darkly imaginative tone rather than its actual content, the works in this series present invented monsters and figures in otherworldly settings with jarring tonal variations. Although Redon felt that the prints effectively translated the surreal universe of his source material, they were largely misunderstood in his own time.

More by Odilon Redon

Baronne de Domecy

Baronne de Domecy

Odilon Redon, about 1900

Vision- vase of flowers

Vision- vase of flowers

Odilon Redon, 1900

Les Anemones (Still Life with Anemones)

Les Anemones (Still Life with Anemones)

Odilon Redon, c. 1900–10

Orpheus

Odilon Redon, c. 1903–10

Evocation of Roussel

Evocation of Roussel

Odilon Redon, c. 1912

Flower Clouds

Odilon Redon, c. 1903

Large Vase with Flowers

Large Vase with Flowers

Odilon Redon, c. 1912

Le pavot noir

Vase of Flowers

Vase of Flowers

Odilon Redon, 1916

Wildflowers

Odilon Redon, c. 1905

Feldblumen

Odilon Redon, 1900s

Bouquet of Flowers

Bouquet of Flowers

Odilon Redon, ca. 1900–1905

Visually similar

Anthony: "What is the object of all this?" The Devil: "There is no object!", plate 18 of 24

Anthony: "What is the object of all this?" The Devil: "There is no object!", plate 18 of 24

Odilon Redon, 1896

Saltarello (Saltarelle)

Saltarello (Saltarelle)

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, 1858

Ia Orana Maria (We Greet Thee, Mary)

Ia Orana Maria (We Greet Thee, Mary)

Paul Gauguin, c. 1894

Arï

Odilon Redon, 1898

Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man on the Body of a Fish

Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man on the Body of a Fish

Odilon Redon, 1888

Meditation

Eugène Carrière, 1849 - 1906

Dramatic and Grandiose with Her Face like that of a Druid Priestess

Dramatic and Grandiose with Her Face like that of a Druid Priestess

Odilon Redon, 1887

Mezzotinto (Theme from the Jusélius Mauseleum fresco "The Spring"

Mezzotinto (Theme from the Jusélius Mauseleum fresco "The Spring"

Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1905

Madame Abdala

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893

The Lost Angel Then Opened Black Wings, from Night

The Lost Angel Then Opened Black Wings, from Night

Odilon Redon, 1886

Adverse Glory

Odilon Redon, 1886

I Have Sometimes Seen in the Sky What Seemed to Be Like Forms of Spirits, plate 21 of 24

I Have Sometimes Seen in the Sky What Seemed to Be Like Forms of Spirits, plate 21 of 24

Odilon Redon, 1896