{"data":{"id":76395,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/76395","is_boosted":true,"title":"Flower Clouds","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBgAFAPQAAEtIRkdESEBBT1JNTlJOTltSUFlZXmxXR29YT2VTUnRfU3BfVH1gT39jTnlhVnZhWHJrX3VsZXhqZHFqa3xubH11a49mVYRnWYZnWYBzZoVxZoB1d4V4cYh3eAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAGAAUAAAUYoBAgx3IRUNNclpQljsZNVaRQmwEQxdOFADs=","width":6618,"height":5491,"alt_text":"Pastel drawing of two figures in a sailboat, bright multi-colored clouds."},"main_reference_number":"1990.165","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1898,"date_end":1908,"date_display":"c. 1903","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Odilon Redon\nFrench, 1840-1916","place_of_origin":"France","description":"<p>The evocative, symbolic art of Odilon Redon drew its inspiration from the internal world of his imagination. For years this student of Rodolphe Bresdin worked only in black and white, producing powerful and haunting charcoal drawings, lithographs, and etchings. Just as these black works, or <em>Noirs<\/em>, began to receive critical and public acclaim in the 1890s, Redon discovered the marvels of color through the use of pastel. His immersion in color and this new technique brought about a change in the artist\u2019s approach to his subject matter as well. <em>Flower Clouds<\/em> is one of a number of pastels executed around 1905 that are dominated by spiritual overtones. Here a sailboat bears two figures, perhaps two saintly women, on a timeless journey through a fantastic, phosphorescent sea and sky. The dreamlike skiff may reflect Redon\u2019s internal voyage, replacing the nocturnal turmoil of the earlier <em>Noirs<\/em> with a more hopeful vision. The luminous intensity of the pastels echoes the ardent spirituality of the theme.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"44.5 \u00d7 54.2 cm (17 9\/16 \u00d7 21 3\/8 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":54,"height":44,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Pastel, with touches of stumping, incising, and brushwork, on blue-gray wove paper with multi-colored fibers altered to tan, perimeter mounted to cardboard","inscriptions":"Signed lower left, in black cont\u00e9 crayon: \"ODILON REDON\"","credit_line":"Through prior bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Henry Eon, Le Si\u00e8cle (October 17, 1905).\n\nLouis Vauxcelles, \"Salle 1,\" Le Gil Blas (October 17, 1905).\n\nAubry, Le Petit Havre (November 7, 1905).\n\nQuentin, Le Moniteur du XX\u00e8me Si\u00e8cle (November 5, 1905).\n\n\u00c8tienne Charles, \"Odilon Redon,\" La Libert\u00e9 (March 24, 1906).\n\nM. Giry, \"L\u2019oeuvre de Redon et sa signification ver 1905,\" L\u2019imformation d\u2019histoire de l\u2019art 2 (March-April 1970), p. 69.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report (1989-1990), p. 5 (ill.).\n\n\"La Chronique des Arts.  Principales Acquisitions des Mus\u00e9es en 1990,\" Gazette des Beaux-Arts (March 1991), p. 61 (ill.).\n\nJames N. Wood and Sally Ruth May, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Chicago, 1993), p. 215 (ill.).\n\nOktavia Christ, \"Wiederentdexkung eines Mystikers,\" Kunst und Antiquit\u00e4ten (December 1994), p. 17 (ill.).\n\nJ. Coignard, \"Odilon Redon, Prince des Myst\u00e9rieux R\u00eaves,\" Beaux-Arts Magazine (December 1994), p. 92-93 (ill.).\n\nAlec Wildenstein, Odilon Redon, Catalogue raisonn\u00e9 de l\u2019oeuvre peint et dessin\u00e9 3 (Paris, 1996), p. 352, no. 1954 (ill.).\n\nJames Wood, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (New York, 2000), p. 236 (ill.).\n\nDario Gamboni, Potential Images: Ambiguity and Indeterminacy in Modern Art (2002).\n\nHarriet K. Stratis and Britt Salvesen (eds.), The Broad Spectrum: Studies in the Materials, Techniques, and Conservation of Color on Paper (London, 2002), pp. 265-157 (detail ill.).\n\nGerald Bromme and Nancy Kinne, Exploring Painting (2002).\n\nThe Essential Guide (Chicago, 2009), p. 307 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Paris, Grand Palais, Salon d\u2019automne, October 18-November 25, 1905, cat. 1311, as \"Marine\".\n\nParis, H\u00f4tel de Ville, \"Cercle d\u2019art moderne,\" June 1906, cat. 27, as \"Barque\".\n\nParis, Galerie Barbazanges, \"Odilon Redon,\" May 18- June 15, 1920, cat. 136, as \"Barque au soleil couchant\".\n\nParis, Galerie H. Odermatt, Ph. Cazeau, \"Ma\u00eetres des XIX et XX Si\u00e8cles,\" May 4-July 28, 1990, cat. 8.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, \"Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams 1840-1916,\" July 2-September 18, 1994, no. 137, cat. by Douglas Druick, et al; the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, October 20, 1994-January 15, 1995, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, February 16-May 21, 1995.\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, \"The Broad Spectrum: Color on Paper, Past and Present,\" September 12\u2013October 31, 1999, p. 256-257 (detail ill.).\n\nThe Art Institute of Chicago, \"Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination\", October 4, 2025 - January 5, 2026.","provenance_text":"Sold by the artist to Charles Waltner, Paris, February 1904 [Chicago 1994]; Charles Waltner, to 1926 [Wildenstein 1996].  Marcel Kapferer, Paris, c. 1930 [Wildenstein 1996].  Vogel, Versoix, Switzerland, 1947 [Wildenstein 1996].  Private collection, Switzerland, c. 1989 [Wildenstein 1996].  Sold, H\u00f4tel des Ventes, Enghein, France, November 21, 1989, lot 8.  Sold by Altman-Burke Fine Art Inc., New York, to the Art Institute, 1990.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":3,"fiscal_year":1990,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":224,"l":42,"s":37,"percentage":0.00012108057367315366,"population":44},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Drawing and Watercolor","artwork_type_id":14,"department_title":"Prints and Drawings","department_id":"PC-13","artist_id":36336,"artist_title":"Odilon Redon","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[36336],"artist_titles":["Odilon Redon"],"category_ids":["PC-13","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Prints and Drawings","Essentials"],"term_titles":["pastel","scraping","Post-Impressionism","mysteries\/fantasies","pastels (crayons)","wove paper","drawings (visual works)","prints and drawing","transportation","water","paper (fiber product)","paper"],"style_id":"TM-7547","style_title":"Post-Impressionism","alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":["TM-7547"],"style_titles":["Post-Impressionism"],"classification_id":"TM-229","classification_title":"pastel","alt_classification_ids":["TM-5","TM-4","TM-145"],"classification_ids":["TM-229","TM-5","TM-4","TM-145"],"classification_titles":["pastel","drawings (visual works)","prints and drawing","paper"],"subject_id":"TM-10184","alt_subject_ids":["TM-8668","TM-8681"],"subject_ids":["TM-10184","TM-8668","TM-8681"],"subject_titles":["mysteries\/fantasies","transportation","water"],"material_id":"TM-2417","alt_material_ids":["TM-3074","TM-2982"],"material_ids":["TM-2417","TM-3074","TM-2982"],"material_titles":["pastels (crayons)","wove paper","paper (fiber product)"],"technique_id":"TM-3852","alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":["TM-3852"],"technique_titles":["scraping"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"fb2077d9-82cc-ca7e-f450-5471d7f78c9a","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Flower Clouds","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1990.165"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Flower Clouds"],"weight":13326,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-01-06T15:02:07-06:00","updated_at":"2026-03-03T05:50:54-06:00","timestamp":"2026-09-23T11:53:12-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}