At the end of 2019, during a flea market, I was fortunate enough to acquire the first edition of the catalogue raisonné of the lithographs by the French Symbolist artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916). This exhaustive inventory, meticulously compiled in 1913 by art critic André Mellerio, catalogs the works that Redon referred to as his “Noirs,” revealing haunting shades of black.
Beneath the thick cover of this tome, a relic from another era, lies a fascinating and fantastical world: chimeras, monsters, winged horses, and strange flowers. Redon’s work is, as he described it, “dictated directly from his unconscious.” This dark and singular iconography guided the creation of this oracle deck.
In designing the deck’s logo, I drew inspiration from the cover of the album Songes (Dreams). The typography features curved lines and arabesques in the Art Nouveau style, an artistic movement from the late 19th century.
Art Nouveau draws its inspiration from nature. Shimmering floral motifs elegantly unfold on the black backs of the cards, achieved through the technique of hot foil stamping.
The structure and energy of the deck reflect the artist’s journey from lithographic stone to the vibrant exploration of color. Below, you will find a selection of plates from the following distinct works and albums: Dans le Rêve (In the Dream), À Edgar Poë (To Edgar Allan Poe), Les Origines (The Origins), Hommage à Goya (Homage to Goya), Profil de Lumière (Profile of Light), La Nuit (The Night), Brunnhilde (Brünnhilde), L'Araignée (The Spider), Le Juré (The Juror), Tentation de Saint-Antoine 1ère série (The Temptation of Saint Anthony; 1st series), À Gustave Flaubert (To Gustave Flaubert), Tentation de Saint-Antoine 2ème série (The Temptation of Saint Anthony; 2nd series), Pégase Captif II (Captive Pegasus), Les Flambeaux Noirs (The Black Torches), Serpent-Auréole (Serpent-Halo), Songes (Dreams), Parsifal (Parsifal), Druidesse (Druid Priestess), Le Liseur (The Reader), L'Aile (The Wing), Lumière (Light), Hantise I (Obsession), Le Buddha (The Buddha), Tentation de Saint-Antoine 3ème série (The Temptation of Saint Anthony; 3rd series), Vieux Chevalier (Old Knight), La Maison Hantée (The Haunted House), and Apocalypse de Saint-Jean (The Revelation of St. John the Divine).
Beyond divination, this oracle serves as a tool for self-discovery and self-knowledge, particularly suited for Shadow Work. Reading the cards is a spiritual practice that promotes self-reflection. I created this deck inspired by Jungian psychology, an approach that allows for meaning-making, the development of intuition, and exploration of the deepest recesses of the psyche. This perspective resonates with the work of Odilon Redon, who employed “the logic of the Visible at the service of the Invisible.” Symbolism proves to be a language that is both complex and revealing.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of analytical psychology. He is renowned for his theories on the collective unconscious, archetypes, and synchronicity.
Bertrand-Jean Redon, known as Odilon in reference to his mother, Odile, was born on April 20, 1840, in Bordeaux. He had a delicate constitution and spent his childhood at the family estate of Peyrelebade in the Médoc. The wild and austere nature of the Médoc landscape, with its moors and marshlands, deeply influenced his imagination and work.
The first part of Odilon Redon’s artistic career was dedicated to the Noirs series, created primarily with charcoal and inspired by the meanderings of his unconscious. Before 1870, Redon met Rodolphe Bresdin, an engraver and lithographer who introduced him to the art of engraving and the influence of Rembrandt. More importantly, Bresdin encouraged Redon to pursue a personal style of art, independent of mainstream trends, even at the risk of being misunderstood. Around 1878, Redon began producing works using this technique. His initial intention was clearly stated in a letter to André Mellerio: “I had previously tried, in vain, to exhibit the many drawings I had already created at the official Salons… So, I made my first lithographs to reproduce my drawings.” Deeply grateful to Bresdin for this discovery, Redon pays homage to him in works such as Le Liseur (The Reader) from 1892, a poignant portrait in the style of Rembrandt. This piece depicts the master bathed in light from the window, with chiaroscuro, inviting us not to disturb him as he contemplates in solitude. Before 1894, Redon gained public recognition primarily through his lithographs and earned the admiration of a group of enthusiasts. Later, he abandoned both lithography and charcoal drawing, and by 1897, experiments with color plates signaled a new direction in his work.
Odilon Redon had a cultivated mind, enriched by theater, literature, music, opera, and botany. Throughout his life, he surrounded himself with remarkable thinkers such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, Stéphane Mallarmé, Emile Verhaeren, André Gide, Maurice Ravel, and Claude Debussy. His passion for literature led him to illustrate books such as Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire and La Tentation de Saint-Antoine (The Temptation of Saint Anthony) by Gustave Flaubert.