Landscape near Peyrelebade

A pile of pale rocks and a scrubby bush sit in the foreground of this wide open field, while big white clouds pile up across most of the canvas. The land stretches flat toward a low horizon, painted in rusty browns and golds that suggest dry grass under a bright sky. This is Peyrelebade, the country estate in southwest France where Odilon Redon spent much of his childhood and returned to throughout his life. The place clearly meant a great deal to him, and he lost it in 1897 when the family had to sell it.

What may surprise you is that Redon is best known for something completely different. He spent years making strange, dreamlike works in black and white, filled with floating eyeballs, odd creatures, and shadowy fantasies that earned him a reputation as a leading Symbolist. Landscapes like this one show his other side, where he simply painted what was in front of him with loose, easy brushwork. The heavy clouds and the empty land give the scene a real sense of solitude, which fits the memories this particular ground held for him.