Rodolphe BRESDIN

"His power lay in imagination alone. He never conceived anything beforehand." - Odilon Redon, on his beloved mentor, Rodolphe Bresdin.

In his small Bordeaux studio, opposite the graveyard where Goya was buried, Rodolphe Bresdin gave critical encouragement and artistic guidance to his most famous pupil, the young Redon, who would always revere him.

Rodolphe Bresdin, a French draughtsman and engraver, was born in Le Fresne-sur-Loire in 1822. A great admirer of Durer and Rembrandt, Bresdin's intricate mark-making created landscapes that were intensely fantastic in their conception, a visual language sometimes credited as a precursor of Surrealism. While not universally known, Bresdin ranks among visionary artists who prevailed despite decades of poor health and constant poverty. He died in Sèvres in 1885.