Fine Art Poster
From £28
A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
Il y eut aussi des êtres embryonnaires - Odilon Redon
Regular price
£28.00 GBP
Sale price
£28.00 GBP
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A haunting lithograph from Odilon Redon's 1883 'Les Origines' series, featuring surreal, floating figures rendered in deep, velvety tones.
This lithograph, titled 'Il y eut aussi des êtres embryonnaires', is the fourth plate from the 1883 portfolio 'Les Origines'. Odilon Redon, a French artist known for his exploration of the subconscious and the dreamlike, produced this work during a period when he focused almost exclusively on black and white lithography. He referred to these works as his 'noirs', a term describing the deep, velvety blacks he achieved through meticulous application of lithographic crayon.
The composition features a large, dark column on the left, which anchors the space. Floating in the upper centre is a solitary, large head with wide, expressive eyes, appearing to emerge from a nebulous, textured void. Below, a smaller, moon-like sphere with a human face rests near the ground. The contrast between the heavy, architectural form of the column and the ethereal, floating entities creates a sense of unease and mystery. Redon avoids clear narrative, instead inviting the viewer to engage with the psychological weight of the imagery.
Redon was influenced by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and the scientific theories of Charles Darwin, though he interpreted these through a lens of personal fantasy rather than literal representation. The 'embryonic' nature of the figures suggests a state of becoming or a primordial existence. The print demonstrates Redon's mastery of light and shadow, where the white of the paper is used to suggest illumination against the dense, dark charcoal-like marks. This work is a representative example of Symbolist art, prioritising internal vision over external reality. The print was published by Alfred Lemercier, a prominent Parisian printer who collaborated with many artists of the era to produce high-quality lithographic editions.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
Il y eut aussi des êtres embryonnaires - Odilon Redon
Regular price
From £28.00 GBP
Sale price
From £28.00 GBP
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / A4 (21x29.7 cm) / -
Artist Biography
Odilon Redon
Redon's father made his fortune in the slave trade in Louisiana in the 1830s. The boy was conceived in New Orleans and born in Bordeaux in 1840. His parents sent him to live with an uncle on a rural estate at Peyrelebade, where he spent most of his childhood alone. He was sickly and withdrawn. The isolation produced someone who looked inward when he drew.
For the first two decades of his career he worked exclusively in black: charcoal drawings and lithographs he called his noirs. Floating eyeballs, severed heads with closed lids, spiders with human faces, plants that grow teeth. The images are hallucinatory but precisely rendered, closer to medical illustration than fantasy. He published his first lithograph album, Dans le Reve, in 1879. Nobody noticed.
Recognition came sideways. In 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans published A rebours, a novel about a reclusive aesthete who decorates his rooms with Redon's prints. The book became a cult text for the Symbolist movement and Redon became famous by association. Stephane Mallarme, the Symbolist poet, became a close friend. Redon also completed a series of lithographs dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems Mallarme and Baudelaire had translated into French.
After 1900 he stopped making noirs entirely and shifted to colour: pastels and oils of flowers, mythological figures and butterflies in palettes that anticipate Matisse. The transition was so complete that the Surrealists later claimed the black work while the Fauves claimed the colour, and neither group seemed to notice they were talking about the same person.
He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is an unlikely pairing: Gerome painted Roman gladiators with photographic precision. Redon painted eyeballs attached to balloons. Goya and Delacroix were the influences that actually stuck.
For the first two decades of his career he worked exclusively in black: charcoal drawings and lithographs he called his noirs. Floating eyeballs, severed heads with closed lids, spiders with human faces, plants that grow teeth. The images are hallucinatory but precisely rendered, closer to medical illustration than fantasy. He published his first lithograph album, Dans le Reve, in 1879. Nobody noticed.
Recognition came sideways. In 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans published A rebours, a novel about a reclusive aesthete who decorates his rooms with Redon's prints. The book became a cult text for the Symbolist movement and Redon became famous by association. Stephane Mallarme, the Symbolist poet, became a close friend. Redon also completed a series of lithographs dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems Mallarme and Baudelaire had translated into French.
After 1900 he stopped making noirs entirely and shifted to colour: pastels and oils of flowers, mythological figures and butterflies in palettes that anticipate Matisse. The transition was so complete that the Surrealists later claimed the black work while the Fauves claimed the colour, and neither group seemed to notice they were talking about the same person.
He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is an unlikely pairing: Gerome painted Roman gladiators with photographic precision. Redon painted eyeballs attached to balloons. Goya and Delacroix were the influences that actually stuck.
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Fine Art Framed
From £45
The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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