Vase of Flowers

A pale vase holds a loose gathering of red roses, white daisies, and small blue blossoms, set against a warm field of brown and gold tones that glow softly behind the arrangement. The piece was painted around 1905 in oil on fabric and belongs to the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it came to the collection as a gift from Roberta Holden Bole. Odilon Redon, a French artist who lived from 1840 to 1916, worked within Symbolism and is also remembered for his piece Les Yeux clos. Worth noticing is how the golden backdrop seems to absorb the flowers' color, giving the whole composition a hazy, inward glow rather than sharp contrast between bloom and ground.