The Red Tree
Currently on view
Odilon Redon (1840 - 1916), 1905
distemper on canvas, 173 cm x 87.5 cm
Credits: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (State of the Netherlands)
In The Red Tree, the blossoms fan out above the kneeling figure in a graceful pattern that spreads across the canvas. The work is part of a series of decorative wall panels that Redon created on commission from Andries Bonger. He was a passionate collector of Redon’s work and the brother-in-law of Theo van Gogh.
While decorative in appearance, the panel also reflects Redon’s search for spiritual depth. In Bonger’s home, these panels offered an escape from the concrete reality of daily life – a window into Redon’s inner world.
Redon used glue-based distemper (peinture à la colle), a fast-drying medium that required a spontaneous and intuitive way of working.
Download the catalogue entry PDF, 5.1 MB
- Object number
- s0464N1996
- Dimensions
- 173 cm x 87.5 cm, 177.3 cm x 92 cm, 4 cm
- Provenance
- Sold by the artist, Paris to Andries Bonger, Amsterdam for FRF 300, August 1905; after his death on 20 January 1936 inherited by his widow, Françoise W.M. Bonger-van der Borch van Verwolde, Amsterdam; after her death in 1975 bequeathed to her heirs, the Netherlands; sold by these heirs to the State of the Netherlands to be placed in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 18 December 1996.
- artist
- Odilon Redon
- Credits
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (State of the Netherlands)
Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Odilon Redon en Emile Bernard. Meesterwerken uit de collectie van Andries Bonger, 10 April-20 September 2009, no. 114
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, André Bonger en zijn kunstenaarsvrienden: Redon, Bernard, Van Gogh, 6 June-6 August 1972, no. 1
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, The Sacred and Profane in Symbolist Art, 1-26 November 1969, no. 82
Turin, Galleria Civica d'arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Il sacro e il Profano nell’arte dei Simbolisti, June-August 1969, no. 97
Venice, XXXIe Biënnale, June 1962, no. 14
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Odilon Redon, 3 May-23 June 1957, no. 201
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Odilon Redon, October 1956-January 1957, no. 187
Groot, I.M. de, André Bonger en zijn kunstenaarsvrienden Redon, Bernard, Van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1972, p. 13
Vergeest, Aukje, The French collection : nineteenth-century French paintings in Dutch public collections, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 270
Bacou, Roseline, Odilon Redon, Paris, [1956], p. 91
Decroocq, M.-C., Lacau St. Guily, A., Wildenstein, Alec, Odilon Redon : catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné, Paris, 1992-1998, vol. 1: p. 264
Leeman, Fred, Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Vergeest, Aukje, Stolwijk, Chris, Odilon Redon and Emile Bernard : masterpieces from the Andries Bonger collection, Amsterdam, 2009, pp. 73, 77, 123
Leeman, Fred, Roos Rosa de Carvalho, Fleur, Vergeest, Aukje, Stolwijk, Chris, Odilon Redon en Emile Bernard : meesterwerken uit de collectie van Andries Bonger, Amsterdam, 2009, pp. 73, 77, 123
Niehaus, Kasper, Openstelling collectie A. Bonger, p. 136
Bacou, Roseline, The Bonger collection at Almen, Holland, p. 401
Boitelle, René, Berg, Klaas-Jan van den, Goetz, E., A technical examination of Odilon Redon's paintings from the Bonger collection, Van Gogh Museum, pp. 69, 72, 74, 76-77, p. 80, n.5 en p. 81, n.2
Yoder, Abigail, Decoration and symbolism in the late works of Odilon Redon, Iowa City, 2013, pp. 171, 379
Wichmann, Siegfried, Whitttall, Mary, Ramsay, James, Watanabe, Helen, Japonisme : the Japanese influence on Western art since 1858, London, 1985, pp. 156, 270
Berger, K., Odilon Redon : Phantasie und Farbe, Köln, 1964, p. 205
Bacou, Roseline, Redon, Odilon, Lettres de Gauguin, Gide, Huysmans, Jammes, Mallarmé, Verhaeren à Odilon Redon, Paris, 1960, p. 294, n. 3
Levy, Suzy, Journal inedit de Ricardo Viñes : Odilon Redon et le milieu occultiste (1897-1915), Paris, 1987, p. 199
Chaban-Delmas, J., Coustet, Robert, Huyghe, René, Martin-Méry, G., Odilon Redon 1840-1916, Bordeaux, 1985, pp. 22, 230
Tilburg, Merel van, Gamboni, Dario, Bonger, Andries, Redon, Odilon, « Sans adieu » : Andries Bonger – Odilon Redon : correspondance 1894-1916, Paris, 2022