Pastels From Millet to Redon

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, La Femme à la médaille, 1896, Musée d'Orsay. © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

With about 100 works from the collection of the Musée D’Orsay, Pastels From Millet to Redon aims to encourage visitors to (re)discover pastels by Millet, Degas, Lévy-Dhurmer, Redon, Mary Cassatt and many others. It is organized around eight major themes emphasizing the revival of pastel that began in the second half of the 19th century, from the portrait to symbolist artists’ chimeras by way of landscape and social change.

The 18th century is regarded as the golden age of pastel. A medium second to none when it comes to rendering the effects of texture and velvety complexions, use of pastel was often restricted to portraiture. Although it fell out of fashion at the time of the French Revolution, pastel enjoyed a revival between the second half of the 19th and early 20th century. The range of available pastels was considerably broadened in terms of shades and textures alike, so opening the door to all types of experiments and practices. The Musée d’Orsay’s collection bears ample witness to this revival.

Neither drawing nor painting, pastel is a unique art providing an immediate relationship with the material Composed of pure pigments, it rests in suspension on the paper’s or canvas’ grain. The resulting vibration is what creates its beauty, as well as its fragility. It is a multifaceted medium that encompasses all possible modulations, from misty blurring to the most vigorous crosshatching. Pastel merges line and color. It is significant that an artist of Degas’ stature used it almost exclusively from 1888-90 onwards, his choice of the medium marking the culmination of his tireless research on drawing and color.