Eyes in the Forest
- Date
- 1882
- Material
- Charcoal on pale brown paper
- Classification
- Drawings & watercolors
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 5/8 in. (33.7 × 27 cm)
framed: 23 in. × 19 1/2 in. × 1 1/2 in. (58.4 × 49.5 × 3.8 cm) - Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 234:1959
NOTES
A pair of disembodied eyes float in the middle of a forest, gazing out toward something beyond the viewer’s line of sight. The naturalistic depiction of the tree on the right contrasts dramatically with the apparition of the eyeballs, which seem to emanate a glowing light that illuminates the forest clearing. With these strange contrasts, Odilon Redon transformed an otherwise familiar landscape into an uncanny realm.
Redon had been fascinated by scientific advancements that occurred during his lifetime, including botany, microbiology, and evolutionary biology. He was particularly interested in studies of optics in the 1870s, specifically the structure of the human eye and the sense of sight. At the same time, he also explored the more subjective side of vision: dreams, hallucinations, and seeing things in the mind’s eye. Thus, eyes appear frequently in Redon’s works, playing upon ideas of both the visible and the invisible.
Redon had been fascinated by scientific advancements that occurred during his lifetime, including botany, microbiology, and evolutionary biology. He was particularly interested in studies of optics in the 1870s, specifically the structure of the human eye and the sense of sight. At the same time, he also explored the more subjective side of vision: dreams, hallucinations, and seeing things in the mind’s eye. Thus, eyes appear frequently in Redon’s works, playing upon ideas of both the visible and the invisible.
Provenance
- 1906
Odilon Redon (1840–1916), Paris, France
1906 -
probably Dr. (Louis) Henri Vaquez (1860-1936), purchased from the artist [1]
1948/04/30
In auction “Tableaux modernes, aquarelles, gouaches, pastels, dessins, …," Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 30, 1948, no. 47, as “Le regard sur la forêt,” priced
Private collection [2]
-1951
Galerie Jean Dufresne, Paris, France [3]
1951 - 1958
John Rewald, New York, New York, purchased from Galerie Dufresne, Paris [4]
1958 -
The New Gallery (Eugene Thaw), New York, New York, acquired from John Rewald [5]
by 1959
Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. May, St. Louis, MO, USA
1959 -
Saint Louis Art Museum [6]
Notes:
[1] This purchase is recorded in Redon’s account book as a purchase by “M. Wacquez [sic] père.” The account book lists the name Wacquez one other time, for the purchase of the painting Geraniums (W 1386) in 1905 [“Livre de raison,” second cahier, MS 42 820, Bibliothèque litteraire Jacques Doucet, p. 74, no. 646, as “Yeux dans des arbres.” In Odilon Redon: Prince du Rêve, 1840–1916 (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay), 2011), accompanying CD-ROM with PDF of transcriptions of Redon’s account books]. Wildenstein's provenance states that Geraniums was purchased from Redon by Dr. Vaquez in 1905 [Wildenstein, Alec. Odilon Redon: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint et dessiné, Volume III: Fleurs et paysages. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1996, p. 37, no. 1386]. Vaquez was a major patron of Vuillard in the late 19th-early 20th century, and was a supporter of modern art.
[2] According to a letter from John Rewald to William Eisendrath, dated January 12, 1959, John Rewald purchased the drawing in 1951 from Galerie Jean Dufresne on rue Jacques Callot in Paris, “where [he] was told merely that it came from a private collection” [SLAM document files].
[3] See note [2].
[4] In the letter from Rewald to Eisendrath [see note [2]], Rewald states that he traded this drawing “against a purchase from Eugene Thaw of the New Gallery in New York” in 1958 [SLAM document files].
[5] See note [4]. There is a label from The New Gallery in New York on the back of the frame for 234:1959, which identifies the drawing as “Eyes in the Forest, ca. 1885” [SLAM document files].
[6] Minutes of the Administration Board of Control and the Advisory Committee of the City Art Museum, January 7, 1960.
Odilon Redon (1840–1916), Paris, France
1906 -
probably Dr. (Louis) Henri Vaquez (1860-1936), purchased from the artist [1]
1948/04/30
In auction “Tableaux modernes, aquarelles, gouaches, pastels, dessins, …," Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 30, 1948, no. 47, as “Le regard sur la forêt,” priced
Private collection [2]
-1951
Galerie Jean Dufresne, Paris, France [3]
1951 - 1958
John Rewald, New York, New York, purchased from Galerie Dufresne, Paris [4]
1958 -
The New Gallery (Eugene Thaw), New York, New York, acquired from John Rewald [5]
by 1959
Mr. and Mrs. Morton D. May, St. Louis, MO, USA
1959 -
Saint Louis Art Museum [6]
Notes:
[1] This purchase is recorded in Redon’s account book as a purchase by “M. Wacquez [sic] père.” The account book lists the name Wacquez one other time, for the purchase of the painting Geraniums (W 1386) in 1905 [“Livre de raison,” second cahier, MS 42 820, Bibliothèque litteraire Jacques Doucet, p. 74, no. 646, as “Yeux dans des arbres.” In Odilon Redon: Prince du Rêve, 1840–1916 (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay), 2011), accompanying CD-ROM with PDF of transcriptions of Redon’s account books]. Wildenstein's provenance states that Geraniums was purchased from Redon by Dr. Vaquez in 1905 [Wildenstein, Alec. Odilon Redon: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint et dessiné, Volume III: Fleurs et paysages. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1996, p. 37, no. 1386]. Vaquez was a major patron of Vuillard in the late 19th-early 20th century, and was a supporter of modern art.
[2] According to a letter from John Rewald to William Eisendrath, dated January 12, 1959, John Rewald purchased the drawing in 1951 from Galerie Jean Dufresne on rue Jacques Callot in Paris, “where [he] was told merely that it came from a private collection” [SLAM document files].
[3] See note [2].
[4] In the letter from Rewald to Eisendrath [see note [2]], Rewald states that he traded this drawing “against a purchase from Eugene Thaw of the New Gallery in New York” in 1958 [SLAM document files].
[5] See note [4]. There is a label from The New Gallery in New York on the back of the frame for 234:1959, which identifies the drawing as “Eyes in the Forest, ca. 1885” [SLAM document files].
[6] Minutes of the Administration Board of Control and the Advisory Committee of the City Art Museum, January 7, 1960.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.
