The Marsh Flower, a Sad Human Head (1885): Art, History and Details

The Marsh Flower, a Sad Human Head (1885) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916); Lemercier & Cie..

The work and its context

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

This series is one of many that Odilon Redon created throughout his career. Nearly two-thirds of his lithographs took the form of portfolios—prints connected conceptually by a theme or narrative and physically by a folder or binding. Such works were often dispersed over time, but Cleveland was fortunate to acquire several complete sets with their original covers during the 1920s. Dating from Redon’s early experimentation with lithography, Homage to Goya was intended as a tribute to 18th-century Spanish master Francisco de Goya, whose interest in dreams and the subconscious influenced Redon. The six seemingly unrelated images celebrate Goya’s ambiguity and collectively suggest the introspection and isolation of artistic practice.

Object facts

• Title: The Marsh Flower, a Sad Human Head
• Date: 1885
• Creator attribution: Odilon Redon (French, 1840–1916); Lemercier & Cie.
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: lithograph on China paper laid on wove paper
• Dimensions: Image: 27.5 x 20.5 cm (10 13/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Lithograph
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1927.344.2

A detail from the museum

This portfolio was published in an edition of 50, one of which Redon sent to poet Stéphane Mallarmé soon after Redon became a frequent participant in a literary salon held regularly at Mallarmé's home.

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lemonedes, Heather. "Bits of Rainbows: Odilon Redon's Vase of Flowers and the power of enlightenment." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 1 (January/February 2016): 5-7.
• Voigt, Kirsten Claudia, Leonie Beiersdorf, and Pia Müller-Tamm. Inventing nature: Pflanzen in der Kunst. Karlsruhe: Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe; Köln: Snoeck, 2021.
• Basch, Sophie. Le Japonisme, Un Art Français. Œuvres En Sociétés. Dijon: Les Presses du réel, 2022.

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.