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Source Description
Drawn in vivid layers of pastel crayon, this work depicts the head of the poet and musician Orpheus. The story of the god of music, whose music carried on after his death through his lyre and head, fascinated Redon, who related to Orpheus's dedication to his art. The subject also aligned with Redon's broader interest in dreams and spirituality around this time and he represented Orpheus several times throughout his career, in various media. Here, the god's head floats as if in stasis while Mount Parnassus—the home of Apollo and the Muses—soars from behind.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
108544
label
Orpheus
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
108544
contentType
drawing
title
Orpheus
description
Drawn in vivid layers of pastel crayon, this work depicts the head of the poet and musician Orpheus. The story of the god of music, whose music carried on after his death through his lyre and head, fascinated Redon, who related to Orpheus's dedication to his art. The subject also aligned with Redon's broader interest in dreams and spirituality around this time and he represented Orpheus several times throughout his career, in various media. Here, the god's head floats as if in stasis while Mount Parnassus—the home of Apollo and the Muses—soars from behind.
date
c. 1903–10
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60745842
creators
1748
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 68.8 x 56.8 cm (27 1/16 x 22 3/8 in.)
cul
France
accession
1926.25
Source extras
tec
pastel on brown paper
tombstone
Orpheus, c. 1903–10. Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916). Pastel on brown paper; sheet: 68.8 x 56.8 cm (27 1/16 x 22 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from J. H. Wade, 1926.25
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed, lower left, in black pastel: ODILON REDON
didYouKnow
Another version of this pastel (now in the collection of the Musée Fabre de Montpellier) was part of a group of later works by Redon shown at the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art—better known as the Armory Show—which introduced the artist to American audiences.
citations
citation
<em>Catalogue of International Exhibition of Modern Art: Association of American Painters and Sculptors : at the Armory of the Sixty-Ninth Infantry, Lexington Avenue, Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Streets, New York, from February Fifteenth to March Fifteenth, Nineteen Hundred and Thirteen from Ten a.M. to Ten P.M. (Sundays Included)</em>. New York: Vreeland Advertising Press, 1913.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 32, no. 307
citation
<em>Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1921.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 96
citation
Watson, Margaret W. "Odilon Redon, A Great French Lyricist." <em>The Arts</em> 2, no. 5 (1922): 273-276.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 275
citation
Pach, Walter. <em>The Masters of Modern Art</em>. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1924.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 14
citation
<em>John Quinn, 1870-1925: Collection of Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings & Sculpture</em>. Huntington, NY: Pidgeon Hill, 1926.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 14; Reproduced: p. 107
citation
Milliken, W. M. "Orpheus, by Odilon Redon." <em>Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 13, no. 6 (June 1926): 139-141.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 139-141.
citation
"Cleveland Museum Buys a Redon." <em>The Art News</em> (January 1, 1927): 1-2.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 2
citation
"Cleveland's New Redon." <em>Art Digest</em> 1, no. 5 (January 1, 1927): 12.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 12
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 39
citation
Wilenski, R.H. <em>French Painting</em>. Boston: Hale, Cushman & Flint, 1931.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 332; Reproduced: pl. 141
citation
Pach, Walter. <em>Queer Thing, Painting: Forty Years in the World of Art</em>. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 166
citation
Holme, Bryan. <em>Master Drawings</em>. New York: The Studio, 1943.
page_number
Reproduced: pl. 114
citation
Francis, Henry Sayles and Ary Leblond. <em>Odilon Redon, 1840-1916: Pastels and Drawings.</em> Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 17
citation
Sandström, Sven. <em>Le monde imaginaire d'Odilon Redon</em>. Lund: CWK Gleerup, 1955.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 177; Reproduced: p. 175
citation
Rewald, John. "Quelques notes et documents sur Odilon Redon." <em>Gazette des Beaux-Arts</em> 48 (November 1956): 81-124.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 114
citation
Berger, Klaus. "The Pastels of Odilon Redon." <em>College Art Journal</em> 16, no. 1 (Autumn 1956): 23-33.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 32; Reproduced: p. 33
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 512
citation
Berger, Klaus. <em>Odilon Redon: Fantasy and Colour</em>. Trans. Michael Bullock. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 208, no. 365; Reproduced p. 35
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 181
citation
Henning, Edward B. <em>Fifty Years of Modern Art, 1916-1966</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 7, 206; Reproduced: p. 7
citation
Hamilton, George Heard. <em>Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1880 to 1940</em>. London: Penguin Books, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 47; Reproduced: pl. 23B
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 181
citation
Muehsam, Gerd. <em>French Painters and Paintings from the Fourteenth Century to Post-Impressionism</em>. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1970.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 490-491; Reproduced: p. 490
citation
Berman, Greta. "The Paradox of Odilon Redon." <em>Konsthistorisk Tidskrift</em>. 39, no. 1-2 (May 1970): 70-79.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 78.
citation
Selz, Jean. <em>Odilon Redon</em>. Lugano: Uffici Press, 1971.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 68; Reproduced: p. 54
citation
Cassou, Jean. <em>Odilon Redon</em>. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri, 1972.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 47
citation
Lucie-Smith, Edward. <em>Symbolist Art</em>. London: Thames and Hudson, 1972.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 78; Reproduced: p. 70
citation
Hobbs, Richard. <em>Odilon Redon</em>. London: Studio Vista, 1977.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 150
citation
Christian, John. <em>Symbolists and Decadents</em>. London: Thames and Hudson, 1977.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 14, no. 4; Reproduced: p. 15
citation
Keay, Carolyn, ed. <em>Odilon Redon. </em>London: Academy Editions, 1977.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 19
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 224
citation
Wilson, Michael. <em>Nature and Imagination: The Work of Odilon Redon</em>. Oxford: Phaidon, 1978.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 56, 58; Reproduced: p. 57
citation
Zilczer, Judith. <em>"The Noble Buyer": John Quinn, Patron of the Avant-Garde</em>. Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 1978.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 180
citation
Canaday, John. <em>Mainstreams of Modern Art</em>. 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 370; Reproduced: p. 373
citation
Coustet, Robert. <em>L'Univers d'Odilon Redon</em>. Paris: Carnets de Dessins, 1984.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 23
citation
Nobuo Abe. Rudon = Redon. Tōkyō: Shūeisha, 1986.
page_number
Reproduced: no. 34
citation
Bacou, Roseline. <em>Odilon Redon: Pastels</em>. Trans. Beatrice Rehl. New York: George Braziller, 1987.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 18, 122, no. 41; Reproduced: p. 123
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Images of the Mind.</em> Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987.
page_number
Reproduced: front cover
citation
Zelanski, Paul and Mary Pat Fisher. <em>The Art of Seeing</em>. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1988.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 90; Reproduced: p. 91
citation
"'La Rêverie esthétique': Symbolist Works on Paper." <em>Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin</em> 43, no. 1 (Summer 1988): 3-47.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 34, no. 40; Reproduced: p. 45
citation
Kosinski, Dorothy M. <em>Orpheus in Nineteenth-Century Symbolism</em>. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1989.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 199
citation
Mindell, Arnold. <em>Coma: Key to Awakening</em>. Boston: Shambhala, 1989.
page_number
Reproduced on cover
citation
Robinson, William H. "Puvis De Chavannes's "Summer" and the Symbolist Avant-Garde." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 78, no. 1 (1991): 2-27.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 14
citation
Strickland, Carol and John Boswell. <em>The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern</em>. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 125
citation
Wildenstein, Alec. <em>Odilon Redon, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné</em>. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. II, pp. 69-70, no. 885; Reproduced: p. 70
citation
Kapos, Martha, ed. <em>The Post-Impressionists: A Retrospective</em>. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin, 1993.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 165
citation
"Abschied vom Traum einer Heilen Welt." <em>Art, </em>no. 7 (July 1994): 14-17.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 16; Reproduced: p. 17
citation
Druick, Douglas W., et al. <em>Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams, 1840-1916</em>.Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1994.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 230; Reproduced: p. 233
citation
Jarrassé, Dominique. <em>Odilon Redon, le rêve</em>. Paris: Herscher, 1996.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 46; Reproduced: p. 47
citation
Orizet, Jean, ed. <em>Anthologie de la poésie française: les poètes et les oeuvres, les mouvements et les écoles</em>. Paris: Larousse, 1998.
page_number
Reproduced on cover
citation
Dempsey, Amy. <em>Styles, Schools and Movements: An Encyclopaedic Guide to Modern Art</em>. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 43
citation
Bamford, Christopher. <em>An Endless Trace: The Passionate Pursuit of Wisdom in the West</em>. New Paltz, NY: Codhill Press, 2003.
page_number
Reproduced on cover
citation
Janson, H.W. and Anthony Janson. <em>History of Art: The Western Tradition</em>. Rev 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 778
citation
Stefano, Eva di. "Il colore fiorisce." <em>Art e Dossier </em>(2005): 33-46.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 37
citation
Sturgis, Alexander, Rupert Christiansen, Lois Oliver, and Michael Wilson. <em>Rebels and Martyrs: The Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century</em>. London: National Gallery, 2006.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 25
citation
Robinson, William. "World Tour Comes to Cleveland." <em>Cleveland Art :</em> <em>Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> (October 2007): 3-5.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 5
citation
Robinson, William, "World Tour Comes to Cleveland", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 47 no. 08, October 2007
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: p. 5
citation
Prettejohn, Elizabeth, Peter Trippi, Robert Upstone, and Patty Wageman. <em>J.W. Waterhouse: The Modern Pre-Raphaelite</em>. Groningen: Groninger Museum, 2008.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 59; Reproduced: p. 61
citation
Yamamoto, Atsuko, and Akiya Takahashi. Motto shiritai rudon: shōgai to sakuhin. Tōkyō: Tōkyōbijutsu, 2011.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 64
citation
Chevrier, Jean-François. <em>L'Hallucination artistique de William Blake à Sigmar Polke</em>. Paris: L'Arachneen, 2012.
page_number
Reproduced.
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. "Themes and Variations: Works on Paper from the Museum's Collection with a Musical Motif." <em>Cleveland Art :</em> <em>Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> (January/February 2015): 4-5.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 4
citation
Illiano, Roberto, ed. <em>Music and Figurative Arts in the Twentieth Century.</em> Turnhout: Brepols, 2016.
page_number
Reproduced: Appendix, no.4
citation
Homburg, Cornelia, "Redon's Femmes aux Fleurs: Variations on a Theme." In <em>Odilon Redon: Literature and Music</em>, edited by Cornelia Homburg,175-95. Exh. Cat. Otterlo: Kröller-Müller Museum, 2018.
page_number
Mentioned: 184, 207, no. 183; Reproduced: p. 184
citation
Schmunk, Peter L. "Artists as Musicians and Musical Connoisseurs." In <em>The Routledge Companion to Music and Visual Culture,</em> Tim Shephard, and Anne Leonard, eds., 265-273. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 272-273; Reproduced: Cover
citation
Henning, Edward B. <em>The Spirit of Surrealism</em>. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 44-45, 185; Reproduced: p.44, fig. 4; colorplate II
citation
Salsbury, Britany. “Collecting Dreams: An exhibition of the museum's outstanding collection of works by Odilon Redon." <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>61, no. 3 (Summer 2021): 12-15.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 12; Mentioned: p. 14-15
citation
Salsbury, Britany. <em>Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 188-191, no. 40
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. “Themes and Variations: Works on paper from the museum's collection with a musical motif.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 55, no. 1 (January/February 2015): Cover, 4-5.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 4; Mentioned: p. 5
catalogueRaisonne
Wildenstein 885
creditline
Gift from J. H. Wade
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:48:46.180000
sourceId
108544
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
pastel on brown paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
be28884a17244357