When Andries Bonger visited the Odilon Redon exhibition in the art gallery Durand-Ruel in 1894, he made several notes on the back and front cover of the exhibition catalogue.

(Back cover, bottom left)

‘Ostéologique’, or the scientific study of the structure of the skeleton. Redon drew on scientific knowledge of this kind to render his fantasy creatures as convincingly as possible. He later reflected: ‘all my originality consists of giving life to creatures of dreams, improbable beings [fashioned] according to the laws of the probable.’⁰¹Redon (1922) 1986, p. 23. (‘Toute mon originalité consiste donc à faire vivre humainement des êtres invraisemblables selon les lois du vraisemblable, en mettant, autant que possible, la logique du visible au service de l’invisible.’)Open footnotes panel

Bonger added the note ‘La masque de la mort rouge’, below the title of a noir owned by Edmond Picard (1836–1924), after the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), which featured in the exhibition (fig. dOdilon Redon, The Masque of the Red Death, 1883. Charcoal and black chalk on paper, 43.7 × 35.8 cm. Museum of Modern Art, New York, The John S. Newberry Collection).⁰²Much earlier, Bonger had admired Edouard Manet’s (1832–1883) graphic interpretation of Poe’s The Raven (1875) at Busken Huet: see Bonger to his parents, 4 February 1881, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum Archives, letter b1634V1970; see also Leeman, in Gamboni and Van Tilburg 2022, II, p. 703. Bonger discussed the work extensively in his 1909 lecture, at which he read out the entire story.Open footnotes panel Bonger managed to get hold of this key drawing ten years later and was able to admire it every day in his own home. The fact that Bonger approached Redon’s oeuvre based on his literary interests is apparent not only from the way he was drawn to the motif derived from Poe, but also his purchase of the noir titled Faust and Mephistopheles (fig. eOdilon Redon, Faust and Mephistopheles, 1880. Charcoal and fixative application on paper, 40 × 32 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection).

(Back cover, top and middle left)
Bonger was seemingly advised to have his new acquisitions framed by Redon’s regular framer ‘Boyer’ at ‘38, rue Fontaine’ and also appears to have visited the ‘marchand de tableaux Ambroise Vollard’ a little further down the road on rue Laffitte, since he noted down both addresses on the cover.⁰³This is is an exceptionally early date for him to have been aware of Ambroise Vollard, who had only just started out as an art dealer and had yet to make his name with his exhibition of Cézannes from the estate of Père Tanguy (1825–1894).Open footnotes panel

(Front cover, top)
‘10 Mai exposition à La Haye Redon’ refers to Redon’s monographic exhibition in The Hague, which was scheduled to open shortly afterwards. Bonger immediately involved himself in his new role as a collector of Redon’s work by lending his recent acquisitions to the exhibition, organized by the existing Redon devotees Sara de Swart (1861–1951), Jan Toorop (1858–1928) and Jan Veth.⁰⁴Odilon Redon, exhibition at the Haagsche Kunstkring, 20 May to 1 July 1894. Bonger lent seven loose prints and the print series Songes (M110–115).Open footnotes panel

(Back cover, bottom right, upside down)
The totalled-up figure of 220 might relate to prices or purchase amounts, but a direct connection is not possible.