In Buste ailé en profil (Sphinx), created around 1898, Odilon Redon presents one of his most enigmatic and lyrical visions: a winged female bust depicted in profile, her gaze turned inward, suspended in a softly diffused, otherworldly space. Executed in pastel, the medium Redon came to favor in his mature years, the work reflects a masterful control of color, texture, and emotional resonance. The female figure is at once ethereal and monumental, a serene presence embodying both human grace and mythological mystery. Her wings are rendered with delicate transparency, evoking angelic or dreamlike qualities rather than physical force. The background, a luminous blend of warm and cool tones, enhances the sense of timelessness and detachment from earthly concerns.

This sphinx-like figure continues Redon’s deep engagement with the Symbolist ethos, which prioritized the inner, spiritual reality over literal or narrative depiction. The work invites contemplation rather than explanation. Instead of portraying a literal mythological sphinx, Redon abstracts the motif into an allegorical presence. The being hovers between states of animal and human, seen and imagined, ancient and eternal. The use of profile suggests classical portraiture or funerary sculpture, yet the soft rendering dissolves these references into reverie.

Created at a pivotal moment in Redon’s career, when he had moved beyond his earlier charcoal drawings and lithographs into the luminous world of color, Buste ailé en profil reveals his mature Symbolist vision. It reflects not only a shift in medium but also a transformation in mood and subject matter. Color becomes a spiritual force, gently illuminating the figure without fully defining it, allowing ambiguity and emotion to dominate.

The subject also reflects Redon’s enduring interest in mythology, mysticism, and the subconscious. By removing narrative cues and placing the figure in an undefined space, he encourages the viewer to engage in a quiet, introspective dialogue. The sphinx, traditionally a bearer of riddles and secrets, is reimagined here as a symbol of inward vision and poetic mystery.

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In this exclusive set for MuséeCast, Enmaniguada crafts a deeply transportive auditory journey that blends ritual, memory, and layered rhythm. Rooted in the spiritual while embracing experimental electronic textures, the set unfolds like a ceremonial offering—meditative, physical, and fiercely alive.

Enmaniguada constructs a sound world that resists linear time. Pulses rise and fall like breath, inviting listeners into a trance-like space where ancestral knowledge collides with speculative futures. There is a tactile quality to her mixing: textures crackle and shimmer, low frequencies stir like distant thunder, and melodic fragments emerge like fading dreams before dissolving into silence.

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