Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man on the Body of a Fish - Odilon Redon
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Description
A haunting lithograph by Odilon Redon from his 1882 portfolio, depicting a surreal hybrid creature in a dark, atmospheric void.
This lithograph is plate five from the portfolio 'À Edgar Poe', published in 1882. Odilon Redon, a central figure in the Symbolist movement, focused his practice on the exploration of the subconscious and the dream state. He often described his works as 'noirs', a term referring to his extensive use of charcoal and lithographic ink to create deep, atmospheric shadows.
The image depicts a hybrid creature, a man-fish, floating in an ambiguous, dark void. Redon uses the technical capabilities of lithography to achieve a range of textures, from the dense, velvety blacks of the creature's body to the soft, granular grey of the surrounding space. The creature's expression is one of detached observation, its gaze directed toward small, circular forms that drift in the lower left of the composition. These floating elements, often interpreted as eyes or primordial organisms, appear frequently in Redon's work, adding to the sense of an otherworldly, aquatic environment.
Redon's approach to the subject matter avoids literal narrative. Instead, he creates a visual experience that relies on suggestion and ambiguity. By combining human features with animalistic forms, he taps into the uncanny, a recurring theme in his graphic output. The work does not attempt to replicate reality, but rather to manifest the internal visions of the artist. The stark contrast between the figure and the background emphasises the isolation of the subject, inviting the viewer to contemplate the strange, silent world Redon has constructed. This print demonstrates his mastery of light and shadow, showing how he could manipulate the medium to evoke a sense of mystery without relying on colour.
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Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man on the Body of a Fish - Odilon Redon
Artist Biography
Odilon Redon
For the first two decades of his career he worked exclusively in black: charcoal drawings and lithographs he called his noirs. Floating eyeballs, severed heads with closed lids, spiders with human faces, plants that grow teeth. The images are hallucinatory but precisely rendered, closer to medical illustration than fantasy. He published his first lithograph album, Dans le Reve, in 1879. Nobody noticed.
Recognition came sideways. In 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans published A rebours, a novel about a reclusive aesthete who decorates his rooms with Redon's prints. The book became a cult text for the Symbolist movement and Redon became famous by association. Stephane Mallarme, the Symbolist poet, became a close friend. Redon also completed a series of lithographs dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems Mallarme and Baudelaire had translated into French.
After 1900 he stopped making noirs entirely and shifted to colour: pastels and oils of flowers, mythological figures and butterflies in palettes that anticipate Matisse. The transition was so complete that the Surrealists later claimed the black work while the Fauves claimed the colour, and neither group seemed to notice they were talking about the same person.
He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is an unlikely pairing: Gerome painted Roman gladiators with photographic precision. Redon painted eyeballs attached to balloons. Goya and Delacroix were the influences that actually stuck.
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