Artist: Redon, Odilon (French, 1840 – 1916)
Title: Une femme revêtue du Soleil (A woman clothed with the sun)
1899
lithograph in black on chine collé
overall: 28.9 x 23 cm (11 3/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
1943.3.7369
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Student Curator Comments:
Redon’s luminous, mystical woman is tied to the Book of Revelation chapter 12 by title alone. This print offers a wholly new and different conception of the woman clothed with the sun, one which is serene and enigmatic. This lithograph appeared as plate VI of XII in The Apocalypse of Saint John (1899), the last album in which Redon worked in black and white lithography. The Apocalypse was commissioned and edited by Redon’s patron, Ambroise Vollard. Together, Redon and Vollard timed the release of the Apocalypse to correspond with the turn of the 20th century. Blindsiding St. John’s visionary eye, they sought to profit from the public’s apocalyptic fears.

In this lithograph, a beautiful young woman dances alone in the sun’s spotlight on a darkened stage, her arms cascading delicately behind her head. We may perhaps see her, calm and lithe, as an image of encouragement during a precarious time. As in Blake’s watercolor, Redon’s Woman Clothed with the Sun was probably not intended to be an inherently religious figure. Yet in comparison with Blake’s high drama, Redon’s image seems more mysterious and subtle. In her serene, lyrical presence, Redon’s Woman Clothed with the Sun offers reassurance that all will be well.