Beatrice

From the museum

This print represents Odilon Redon’s fullest experimentation with color lithography. Although he occasionally printed works in a single color, he only made one work in a full range of tones. Revisiting the subject of a pastel from about a decade earlier, Beatrice portrays a recurring figure in Redon’s work—the woman who inspired Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321). Working with his frequent collaborators during the 1890s, printer Auguste Clot and publisher Ambroise Vollard, Redon used muted shades to suggest Beatrice’s ethereal presence and her timeless role as an artistic muse. This print was published in L'Album d'Estampes Originales, a portfolio of lithographs edited by Vollard that included works by some of the leading artists of the day including Bonnard, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vuillard, and Whistler.

The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0