A Woman Clothed with the Sun (1899): Art, History and Details

A Woman Clothed with the Sun (1899) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The last of Odilon Redon’s 11 lithographic portfolios, this series relates to the Book of Revelation from the Christian Bible. The subject had been explored throughout art history, allowing the artist to align himself with past masters, such as Albrecht Dürer. Although Redon often vaguely referenced texts, these prints directly illustrate 12 individual passages, including one about a woman clothed with the sun and another focused on a great star falling from heaven. By the time he created this portfolio, Redon’s reputation was well established. The project was published by art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who began to sell and promote Redon’s work about a year earlier, building a market for his prints in Paris and abroad.

Object facts

• Title: A Woman Clothed with the Sun
• Date: 1899
• Creator attribution: Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916)
• Culture: France, late 19th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: lithograph
• Dimensions: Image: 23 x 28.6 cm (9 1/16 x 11 1/4 in.); Sheet: 56 x 42.4 cm (22 1/16 x 16 11/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1926.140.6

A detail from the museum

This is one of the last works where Redon experimented with lithograph and all-black medium. In contrast, bright, dazzling colors characterize his late works.

Collection credit

Gift of Ralph King

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949. Published as: Une Femme revêtue du soleil.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.