Redon's Prints Show the Darkness in Art

Odilon Redon, Print from "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (series 3). 1896. 

Odilon Redon's noir lithographs are a testament to the hugely influential role psychology plays in art. Redon himself described his works as representations of "the ghosts of his own mind." The Georgia Museum of Art's upcoming exhibition "The Nightmare Transported to Art: Odilon Redon's 'St. Anthony'" provides a unique collection of these peeks into the artist's soul with the full set of Redilon's third series of prints depicting scenes from Gustave Flaubert's book The Temptation of St. Anthony.

The temptation of St. Anthony was often chronicled in medieval, renaissance, and even modern art. However, Redon's prints that will be on display from Nov. 1, 2014 to Jan. 25, 2015 stand out among the rest for their black-and-white palette (an extreme difference from the Impressionists, his contemporaries) and the focus on things outside the visible realm, from tiny microorganisms to the sublime supernatural.

This is the first time the Georgia Museum of Art has displayed the full set from 1896; in 1991, the museum hosted an exhibition that contained part of the prints, but this is the first time visitors can see them as  a complete series.

The exhibition is curated by Laura Valeri, associate curator of European art, and is part of UGA's 2014 Spotlight on the Arts festival. The festival takes place over nine days and is organized by the UGA Arts Council.

For those who want more information and the chance to hear from an expert about the exhibition, Valeri will give a tour on Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 17 at 2 p.m.