“Head of a Young Woman in Profile” is an artwork by Odilon Redon, dating circa 1895, and crafted using pastel on paper. This work is a portrait belonging to the Symbolism art movement and is presently housed in a private collection. The artwork displays Redon’s distinctive style with its evocative use of color and form.
The artwork captures the profile of a young woman, her gaze directed off-canvas, as though lost in contemplation or focused on a distant point not visible to the viewer. The subject’s features are rendered with a softness that is characteristic of pastel works, and they exhibit a gentle transition between light and shadow, contributing to the overall ethereal effect. The use of color in this portrait is quite luminous; the backdrop consists of radiant, blurred hues of yellow that seem to evoke a dreamlike or otherworldly atmosphere.
Redon’s stroke is delicate, lending a sense of texture and movement to the piece. The young woman’s hair is adorned with a simple, golden band, which stands out against the muted tones of her skin and the earthy browns of her shoulder. The artist’s command of light is evident in how it gently illuminates the woman’s profile, softly accentuating her nose, forehead, and chin.
There is a notable absence of explicit emotive expression, yet the artwork conveys a profound sense of introspection and stillness. It is this combination of muted expression and imaginative color use that aligns the piece with the Symbolist movement, which sought to represent ideas and emotions through evocative and metaphorical imagery rather than direct representation.
