Sommeil de Caliban

20 april 1840

Born

1870–1871

Army service in the Franco-Prussian War

In 1870 Redon found himself in the field army in the Franco-Prussian War and, to the surprise of family and friends, proved a brave and steadfast soldier. The war, which ended for France in a humiliating peace, gave him confidence in himself.

March 1874

Death of his father

In March 1874 Redon’s father died. It was a severe shock to the artist, who never got over his resentment of his father for the “homeless” years of his childhood, yet it let him devote himself entirely to art.

1884

Huysmans’s novel “Against Nature” makes him known

After the publication of Joris-Karl Huysmans’s novel “À rebours” in 1884 the public began to take an interest in Redon: the book’s hero assembled a collection of art that included Redon’s drawings.

1886

The eighth Impressionist exhibition

Redon took part in the eighth and last Impressionist exhibition.

from 1890

The turn from “noirs” to colour

From 1890 Redon turned more and more to oil and pastel and gave up his “black” works; after 1900 he made no more noirs. He explained the change by saying he had realised that the unwinding ribbon of life brings not only sorrow but joy.