Early Life, Family and Training Born Bertrand-Jean Redon on 20 April 1840 in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, the boy who would become known as Odilon Redon entered a world shaped by his family's origins. His mother, Marie Guérin, was a French Creole from Île Bourbon, and it was from her name that he eventually acquired his chosen moniker. Even in his youth, a certain visual aptitude was evident; at the age of ten, he was awarded a drawing prize at school, a small triumph that hinted at the sensitivity he would later apply to his craft. The path toward an artistic life was not a straight one. T…